Category: DC Superhero

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The Batman Adventures volume 3


By Kelley Puckett, Paul Dini, Mike Parobeck & Rick Burchett, Michael Reaves, Bruce Timm, Matt Wagner, Klaus Janson, Dan DeCarlo, John Byrne & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-5872-6 (TPB/Digital edition)

With Batman: Caped Crusader storming the air waves in this anniversary year and making old farts like me tremble all over again, let’s take a peek back at the bonanza of great comics that came out of the last animated noir fest courtesy of Bruce Timm & Co…

The brainchild of Bruce Timm, Eric Radomski & Paul Dini, Batman: The Animated Series aired in the US from September 5th 1992 to September 15th 1995. Ostensibly for kids the TV cartoon revolutionised everybody’s image of the Dark Knight and inevitably fed back into print iterations, leading to some of the absolute best comic book tales in the hero’s many decades of existence. And it’s still true today…

Employing a timeless visual style dubbed “Dark Deco”, the show mixed elements from all eras of the character and, without diluting the power, tone or mood of the premise, re-honed the grim Bat and his team into a wholly accessible, thematically memorable form.

It entranced young fans whilst adding shades of exuberance and panache that only the most devout and obsessive Batmaniac could possibly object to. A faithful comic book translation was prime material for collection in the newly-emergent trade paperback market but only the first year was ever released, plus miniseries such as Batman: Gotham Adventures and Batman Adventures: the Lost Years. Nowadays, however, we’re much more evolved and reprint collections have established a solid niche amongst cognoscenti and young readers.

This third inclusive compendium gathers issues #21-27 of The Batman Adventures, originally published between June to December 1994  plus that year’s Batman Adventures Annual: a scintillating, no-nonsense frenzy of family-friendly Fights ‘n’ Tights fantasy from Kelly Puckett, Mike Parobeck & Rick Burchett and a few fellow-pros-turned-fans…

Puckett is a writer who truly grasps the visual nature of the medium and his stories are always fast-paced, action packed and stripped down to the barest of essential dialogue. This skill has never been better exploited than by Parobeck who was at that time a rising star, especially when graced by Burchett’s slick, clean inking.

Although his professional career was tragically short (1989 to 1996 when he died, aged 31, from complications of Type 1 Diabetes) Parobeck’s gracefully fluid, exuberantly kinetic, frenetically fun-fuelled, animation-inspired style revolutionised superhero action drawing and sparked a renaissance in kid-friendly material and merchandise at DC – and everywhere else in the comics publishing business.

The wall to wall wonderment begins with the compulsive contents of Batman Adventures Annual #1: a giant-sized gathering of industry stars illustrating Paul Dini’s episodic, interlinked saga ‘Going Straight’.

Illustrators Timm & Burchett set the ball rolling as jet-propelled bandit Roxy Rocket is released from prison, prompting Batman and faithful retainer Alfred to discuss whether any villains ever reform.

Apparently one who almost made it is Arnold Wesker, who played mute Ventriloquist to his malign dummy Scarface. Tragically in ‘Puppet Show’ (art by Parobeck & Matt Wagner) we see how even a good job and the best of intentions are no defence when Arnold’s new boss wants to exploit his criminal past…

Harley Quinn is insanely devoted to killer clown The Joker as Dan DeCarlo & Timm wordlessly expose her profound weakness for that bad boy as she’s released from Arkham Asylum, only to be seduced back into committing crazy crimes in just ’24 Hours’…

The Scarecrow’s return to terrorising the helpless resulted from his genuine desire to help a girl assaulted by her would-be boyfriend in the chilling, poignant ‘Study Hall’ (with art by Klaus Janson), after which ‘Going Straight’ concludes with Timm detailing how Roxy Rocket is framed by Catwoman, and Batman has to separate the warring female furies…

The melange of mayhem even came with its own enthralling encore with The Joker solo-starring in ‘Laughter After Midnight’ as the Mountebank of Mirth goes on a spree in Gotham, courtesy of artists John Byrne & Burchett…

The Batman Adventures #21 then saw Michael Reaves join Puckett to script tense thriller ‘House of Dorian’ for Parobeck & Burchett as deranged geneticist Emile Dorian escapes from Arkham and immediately turns Kirk Langstrom back into the marauding Man-Bat.

Moreover, although the Mad Doctor’s freedom is bad news for Gotham, Langstrom and Dorian’s previous beast-man Tygrus; for a desperate fugitive afflicted with lycanthropy, the insane physician is his last chance at a cure for his curse…

Dorian couldn’t care less. All he wants is revenge on Batman and Selina Kyle…

Like the show, most stories were crafted as a 3-act plays and the conceit resumes with #22 as Puckett, Parobeck & Burchett settle in for the long haul. ‘Good Face Bad Face’ sees Two-Face return; also busting out of Arkham in ‘Harvey Doesn’t Live Here Anymore’ set to settle scores with Gotham’s top mobster Rupert Thorne. His first move is to free his gang in ‘Nor Iron Bars a Cage’, but this time Batman is waiting…

Poison Ivy is back in #23, spreading ‘Toxic Shock’ and teaming up with the Dark Knight in ‘Strange Bedfellows’ to save a famed botanist/ecologist dying from a mystery toxin. ‘Fighting Poison with Poison’, she and Batman hunt for a cure, forcing the mystery assassin into more prosaic methods in ‘How Deadly Was my Valley’…

‘Grave Obligations’ sees the Gotham Guardian’s past come back to haunt him when a ninja clan invade the city. They seem more concerned with fighting each other in ‘Brother’s Keeper’ but a little digging reveals how one has come ‘From Tokyo, With Death’ in mind for Batman, and it takes a much higher authority to halt the chaos in ‘Cancelled Debts’…

An inevitable team-up graces Batman Adventures #25 as Puckett, Parobeck & Burchett reintroduce legendary ‘Super Friends’. With Lex Luthor in town and bidding against Waynetech for a military contract, a mystery bombing campaign begins in ‘Tik, Tik, Tik…’

Even as unwelcome guest Superman horns in, Batman realises his old foe Maxie Zeus might be taking the credit but is certainly not to blame for the ‘Sinners in the Hands of an Angry Zeus!’ A little deduction and a grudging alliance with the Caped Kryptonian results in the true scheme unravelling in ‘The Gods Must be Crazy’ with Batman rejoicing in having made a powerful friend and a remorseless and resourceful new enemy…

‘Tree of Knowledge’ focuses on college students Dick Grayson and Babs Gordon as they score top marks in a criminology course. ‘Pop Gun Quiz’ sees them singled out for special study by impressed Professor Morton and on hand in ‘Careful What You Wish For’ to experience an impossible crime in the University Library. Despite all their investigations, it’s only as Robin and Batgirl that a devilish plot is exposed and crucial ‘Lessons Learned’…

The last tale in this terrific tome revisits the tragedy of Batman’s origins as ‘Survivor Syndrome’ sees an impostor risking his life on Gotham’s streets in search of justice or possibly his own death.

‘Brother, Brother’ reveals how athlete Tom Dalton’s wife was murdered and how he surrenders to a ‘Call to Vengeance’. Everything changes once the real Dark Knight takes charge of Tom and trains him to regain ‘The Upper Hand’…

With a full complement of covers by Timm, Parobeck & Burchett, plus a ‘Pin-Up Gallery’ with stunning images by Alex Toth, Dave Gibbons, Kelley Jones, Kevin Nowlan, Mark Chiarello, Mike Mignola, Matt Wagner, Chuck Dixon & Burchett – all coloured by the astounding Rick Taylor – this is another stunning treat for superhero lovers of every age and vintage.
© 1994, 2015 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman: Silver Age Dailies and Sundays 1968 – 1969


By Whitney Ellsworth, Joe Giella, Al Plastino & various (IDW)
ISBN: 987-1-63140-121-3 (HB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

For more than seven decades in America the newspaper comic strip was the Holy Grail cartoonists and graphic-narrative storytellers hungered for. Syndicated across the country and often the planet, winning millions of readers and accepted (in most places) as a more mature and sophisticated form of literature than comic-books, it also paid better, with the greatest rewards and accolades being reserved for the full-colour Sunday page. So it was always something of a poisoned chalice when a comic book character became so popular that it swam against the tide (after all weren’t the funny-books invented just to reprint strips in cheap, accessible form?) and became a syndicated serial strip. Superman, Wonder Woman and Archie Andrews made the jump soon after their debuts and many features have done so since.

Due to war-time complications, the first newspaper Batman and Robin strip was slow getting its shot, but when the Dynamic Duo finally hit the Funny Pages the feature quickly proved to be one of the best-regarded, highest quality examples of the trend, both in Daily and Sunday formats. Yet somehow the strip never achieved the circulation it deserved, even though the Sundays were eventually given a new lease of life when DC began issuing vintage stories in the 1960s for Batman 80-page Giants and Annuals. The exceedingly high-quality all-purpose adventures were ideal short stories and added an extra cachet of exoticism for young readers already captivated by simply seeing tales of their heroes that were positively ancient and redolent of History with a capital “H”.

Such was not the case in the mid-1960s when, for a relatively brief moment, mankind went bananas for superheroes in general and most especially went “Bat-Mad”…

The Silver Age of comic books revolutionised a creatively moribund medium cosily snoozing in unchallenging complacency, bringing a modicum of sophistication to the returning genre of masked mystery men. For quite some time changes instigated by Julius Schwartz in Showcase #4 (October 1956) had rippled out in the last years of that decade, affecting all of National/DC Comics’ superhero characters but had generally bypassed The Gotham Gangbuster. Fans buying Batman, Detective Comics, World’s Finest Comics and latterly Justice League of America would read adventures that in look and tone were largely unchanged from the safely anodyne fantasies that had transformed a Dark Knight Detective into a mystery-solving, alien-fighting costumed Boy Scout just as the 1940s turned into the 1950s.

By the end of 1963, however, Schwartz having, either personally or by example, revived and revitalised the majority of DC’s line (and by extension and imitation, the entire industry) with his reinvention of the Superhero, was asked to work his magic with the creatively stalled and near-cancellation Caped Crusaders. Installing his go-to team of creators, the Editor stripped down the accumulated luggage and rebooted the core-concept. Down – and usually out – went the outlandish villains, aliens and weird-transformation tales in favour of a coolly modern concentration on crime and detection.

Even the art-style underwent a sleek streamlining and rationalisation. The most apparent change to us kids was a yellow circle around the Bat-symbol but, far more importantly, the stories had changed. A subtle aura of genuine menace had crept back in.

At the same time Hollywood was in production of a television series based on Batman and, through the sheer karmic insanity that permeates the universe, the studio executives were basing their interpretation not upon the “New Look Batman” currently enthralling readers but the rather the addictively daft material DC was emphatically turning its editorial back on.

The Batman TV show premiered on January 12th 1966 and ran for three seasons of 120 episodes, usually airing twice weekly in the first two. It was a monumental, world-wide hit and sparked a wave of trendy imitation. Resulting media hysteria and fan frenzy generated an insane amount of Bat-awareness, no end of spin-offs and merchandise – including a movie – and introduced us all to the phenomenon of overkill. No matter how much we might squeal and froth about it, to a huge portion of this planet’s population Batman is always going to be that “Zap! Biff! Pow!” buffoonish costumed Boy Scout…

“Batmania” exploded across Earth and – almost as quickly – became toxic and vanished, but at its height led to the creation of a fresh newspaper strip incarnation. That strip was a huge syndication success and even reached fuddy-duddy Britain, not in our papers and journals but as the cover feature of weekly comic Smash! (from issue #20 onwards).

The TV show ended in March, 1968. As it foundered and faded away, global fascination with “camp” superheroes – and no, the term had nothing to do with sexual orientation no matter what you and Mel Brooks might think – burst as quickly as it had boomed. The Caped Crusader was left with a hard core of dedicated fans and followers who now wanted their hero back…

However, from the time when the Gotham Guardians could do no wrong comes a second superb compilation re-presenting the bright and breezy, sometimes zany cartoon classics of Batman with Robin the Boy Wonder, augmented by a wealth of background material, topped up with oodles of unseen scenes and background detail to delight the most ardent Baby-boomer nostalgia-freak. The fun-fest opens with more informative, picture-packed, candidly cool revelations from comics historian Joe Desris in ‘A History of the Batman and Robin Newspaper Strip: Part 2’: stuffed with behind-the-scenes set photos, communications between principal players like Bob Kane and the Producers, clippings, glorious unpublished pencils from strip illustrator Joe Giella as well as newspaper promotional materials, followed by pictorial essays on ‘Newspaper Strip Trivia’ and ‘Batman/Superman Crossovers’, more unpublished or censored strips and a note on the eclectic sources used to compile this collection before the comics cavorting continue…

Dailies and Sundays were scripted by former DC editor (and the company’s Hollywood liaison) Whitney Ellsworth and initially illustrated by Kane’s long-term art collaborator Sheldon Moldoff, before inker Giella was tapped by the studio to produce a slicker, streamlined modern look – usually as penciller but ALWAYS as embellisher. Since the feature was a 7-day-a-week job, Giella often called in comic book buddies to help lay-out and draw the strip; luminaries like Carmine Infantino, Bob Powell, Werner Roth, Curt Swan and others.

In those days, monochrome Dailies and full-colour Sundays were mostly offered as separate packages and continuity strips often ran different stories for each. For Batman the strip started out that way, but by the time of the stories in this volume had switched to unified 7-day storylines.

Riding a wave and feeling ambitious, Ellsworth & Giella had started their longest saga yet in July 1967, combining the tales of ‘Shivering Blue Max’ with ‘“Pretty Boy” Floy and Flo’, wherein a perpetually hypothermic criminal pilot accidentally downed the Batcopter and erroneously claimed the underworld’s million dollar bounty on Batman and Robin.

Our heroes were not dead, but the crash caused the Batman to lose his memory and, whilst Robin and faithful manservant Alfred sought to remedy his affliction, Max had collected his prize and jetted off for sunnier climes. With Batman missing, neophyte crimebuster Batgirl then tracked down the heroes – incidentally learning their secret identities – and was instrumental in restoring him to action… if not quite his fully-functioning faculties.

However, when underworld paymaster BG (Big) Trubble heard the heroes had returned, he quite understandably wanted his money back, forcing already-broke Max back to Gotham where he gullibly fell foul of Pretty Boy whilst that hip young gunsel and twin sister Flo were enacting a murderous scam to fleece a horoscope-addicted millionaire…

The tale picks up here on January 1st 1968 with Batman held at gunpoint, patiently trying to convince supremely suggestible, wealthy whale Tyrone Koom he is not there to assassinate him as the tycoon’s new astrologer Madame Zodiac (AKA Flo Floy) was insisting she had foreseen. When her minted dupe proves incapable of murder, Flo/Zodiac takes matters into her own hands by knocking out the mighty manhunter, but despite all her and her brother’s arguments, the millionaire cannot be convinced to pull the trigger…

Instead, befuddled Koom – still thinking the masked marvel wants him dead – has Batman bundled off to an isolated island where a fully-automated, exotic palace of wonders will act as the Caped Crusader’s impregnable prison for the remainder of his life. With the hero as good as dead Pretty Boy & Flo plan to claim BG’s million dollar bounty, but have not reckoned on Blue Max horning in…

When the pilot collides with Robin (tracking his senior partner by Bat-Radio) the erstwhile enemies reluctantly join forces but cannot prevent Batman’s banishment. Moreover, in the frantic melee, the Boy Wonder suffers a broken leg. Meanwhile, lost in an endless ocean, Batman slowly adjusts to life of enforced luxury on palatial penitentiary island Xanadu, unaware that life at home has become vastly more complicated for Robin and Alfred. Not only do they believe the Cowled Crimebuster dead but Max has ferreted out their secret identities and blackmailed them into cooperating in his vengeance scheme against Pretty Boy. Max plans to prevent the young thug collecting the reward by impersonating Batman…

Events spiral to a grim climax when Max finally confronts his criminal enemies and Koom realises he’s been played for a fool. The dupe’s guilt-fuelled final vengeance ends all the villains at once, but not before Pretty Boy presses a destruct button that will cause Xanadu to obliterate itself in an atomic explosion.

Thankfully Superman and especially Sea King Aquaman have been mobilised to help find the missing Masked Manhunter but the countdown – although slow – is unstoppable…

During this sequence the severely overworked Giella bowed out and a veteran Superman illustrator took over the pitiless illustration schedule. Alfred John “Al” Plastino was a prodigious artist with a stellar career. He had been active in the early days of comic books, with credits including Captain America and Dynamic Man before serving in the US Army. His design talents were quickly recognised and he was seconded to Grumman Aerospace, The National Inventors Council and latterly The Pentagon, to design war posters and field manuals for the Adjutant General’s office.

In 1948 Plastino joined DC and quickly became one of Superman’s key artists. He drew many landmark stories and – with writer Otto Binder – created Brainiac, Supergirl and The Legion of Super-Heroes. From 1960-1969 he ghosted the syndicated Superman newspaper strip and whilst still drawing Batman, also took over Ferd’nand in 1970, drawing it until his retirement in 1989. He was extremely versatile and apparently tireless. In 1982-1983 he drew Nancy Sundays after creator Ernie Bushmiller passed away and was controversially hired by United Media to produce fill-in episodes of Peanuts when Charles Schulz was in dispute with the company. Al Plastino died in 2013.

With a new policy of introducing guest stars from DC’s pantheon, Plastino was the ideal artist successor and as the assembled champions desperately sought to find and save their missing comrade, a new tone of straight dramatic adventure largely superseded the campy comedy shenanigans of the TV series.

The search for Batman had been continually hampered by the Man of Steel’s strange weakness and loss of powers, but now that the Gotham Gangbusters were reunited they concentrated their efforts on finding out why. The deductive trail soon led to bone fide mad scientist ‘Diabolical Professor Zinkk’ (originally running March 19th to August 6th) and saw the Dynamic Duo tracking down a mercenary maniac who had found a way to broadcast Kryptonite waves and was oh-so-slowly killing Superman for a big payout from Metropolis’ mobsters…

This is a cunningly convoluted, beautifully realised and supremely suspenseful tale with the clock ticking down on a deranged and dying Metropolis Marvel as Batman & Robin hunt rogue radio-physicist Zoltan Zinkk to divine the method by which he brings low Earth’s greatest defender. It culminates in a savage, spectacular and truly explosive showdown before the World’s Finest heroes finally triumph…

Another tense thriller then sees Aquaman return to share the spotlight, beginning with determined “dolly-bird” Penelope Candy perpetually plaguing news outlets and even pestering the Gotham Police Department in a tireless quest to be put in touch with Batman. The man in question is blithely unaware: Bruce Wayne is dealing with a small personal problem. In his infinite wisdom he intends for Robin to temporarily retire whilst young Dick Grayson completes a proper education! To that end has engaged a new tutor for the strongly-protesting Boy Wonder…

With that all acrimoniously settled, the Caped Crimebuster roars out into the night and is filmed falling to his doom in a river trying to save apparently suicidal Penny Candy…

At first the heartbroken sidekick doesn’t know Batman is still alive but has actually been drawn into a Byzantine scheme devised by Penny to find her missing father. Oceanographer Archimedes Candy disappeared after working with Aquaman on a serum allowing humans to live beneath the sea. Penny is certain someone has abducted the researcher and, after Batman contacts Robin, they have the junior crimebuster send out a radio alert for the Sea King, before impatiently trying the potion together. ‘Breathing Underwater’ (August 7th – December 15th), they set off on a sub-sea search for the missing sea scientist…

Of course Penny’s fears of foul play are justified and before long she and Batman are reunited with Dr. Candy. Sadly, that’s as captives of nefarious international smuggler Cap’n Wolf and they are nearly done to death by being abandoned on a mountain in the airy atmosphere they can no longer breathe before Aquaman arrives to settle matters.

Even as Batman makes his way home, the next adventure has started. Gangster fugitive Killer Killey devised the world’s most perfect hiding place and in ‘I Want Bruce Wayne’s Identity!’ (December 15th 1968 – May 30th 1969) abducts the mild-mannered millionaire so a crooked plastic surgeon can swap their faces and fingerprints. The scheme is hugely helped by the fact that Dick has been packed off on a world cruise with tutor Mr. Murphy and his daughter Gazelle whilst Alfred has used accumulated vacation time for an extended visit to England.

When Killer captures Bruce and discovers he also has Batman, the mobster is truly exultant. However the plan goes awry as the victim escapes the death-trap which should have resulted in the authorities finding “Killey’s” drowned body, and the subsequent relocation into Wayne Manor becomes a fraught affair.

Perhaps the villain would be less troubled if he knew that although alive, the real Wayne has once again lost his memory…

Moreover, unbeknownst to anyone, neophyte crimebuster Batgirl already knows Batman’s other identity, and her suspicions are aroused by the state of the mansion and behaviour of Bruce and his new girlfriend…

As events escalate and spiral out of control, Killer – still safely hidden behind Wayne’s face – starts to crack: stupidly antagonising the one person he thought he could always rely on…

This volume’s comics cavortings end with the opening shots of ‘My Campaign to Ruin Bruce Wayne’ (which ran from May 31st – December 25th 1969) but as only seven days of that tale unfold in this volume I think we’ll leave that for the next volume and simply say…

To Be Continued, Bat-Fans…

The stories in this compendium reveal how gentler, stranger times and an editorial policy focusing as much on broad humour as Batman’s reputation as a crime-fighter swiftly returned to all-out action/adventure once Batmania gave way to global overload and ennui. That was bad for the strip at the time but happily resulted in some truly wonderful yarns for die-hard fans of the comic book Caped Crusader. If you’re of a certain age or open to timeless thrills, spills & chills this a truly stunning collection well worth your attention.

Batman: Silver Age Dailies and Sundays 1968-1969 was the second in a set of huge (305 x 236 mm) lavish, high-end hardback collections starring the Dynamic Duo/Trio (and pals!), and a welcome addition to the superb commemorative series of Library of American Comics which has preserved and re-presented in luxurious splendour such landmark strips as Li’l Abner, Tarzan, Little Orphan Annie, Terry and the Pirates, Bringing Up Father, Rip Kirby, Polly and her Pals and many other immortal cartoon icons.

If you love the era, the medium or even just graphic narrative, these are great comics reading, and this is a book you simply must have.

… And maybe one day the compilers will get around to making them all available in digital edition too…
© 2014 DC Comics. All rights reserved. Batman and all related characters and elements ™ & © DC Comics.

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Showcase Presents Batman volume 6


By Dennis O’Neil, Frank Robbins, Robert Kanigher, Len Wein, Marv Wolfman, Neal Adams, Irv Novick, Bob Brown, Dick Giordano & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-5153-6 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

After three seasons the overwhelmingly successful Batman TV show ended in March, 1968. It had clocked up 120 episodes plus a theatrical-release movie since its premiere on January 12, 1966; triggering a global furore of “Batmania” and causing hysteria for all things costumed, zany and mystery-mannish.

Once the series foundered and crashed, humanity’s fascination with “camp” superheroes burst as quickly as it had boomed, and the Caped Crusader was left to a hard core of dedicated fans and followers who hoped they might now have Their hero back.

For comic book editor Julius Schwartz – who had tried to keep the most ludicrous excesses of the show out whilst still cashing in on his global popularity – the solution was simple: ditch the tired shtick, gimmicks and gaudy paraphernalia and get Batman back to basics; solving baffling mysteries and facing life-threatening perils.

That also meant phasing out the boy sidekick…

Although the college freshman Teen Wonder would still pop back for the occasional guest-shot yarn, this 6th astoundingly economical monochrome monument to comics ingenuity and narrative brilliance features him only sporadically. Robin had finally spread his wings and flown the nest: for a solo back-up slot in Detective Comics, alternating with Batgirl.

Chronologically collecting Batman’s cases from cover-dates February 1971 to September 1972, in issues #229-244 of his own title and the front halves of Detective Comics #408-426, the 33 tales gathered here (some Batman issues were giant reprint editions, so only their covers are reproduced within these pages) were written and illustrated by forward-thinking creators determined make the hero relevant and interesting on his own terms once more.

One huge factor aiding the transition was the fact that the publishers now finally acknowledged that a large proportion of their faithful readership were discerning teens or even adults, not just kids looking for a quick, cheap, disposable entertainment fix. Working through other contemporary tropes – most notably a renewed global fascination in all things supernatural and gothic – the creative staff reshaped Batman into a champion capable of working within the new “big things” in comics: realism, organised crime, social issues, suspense and even supernatural horror…

During this period the long road to our modern obsessive, scarily dark Knight gradually produced a harder-edged, grimly serious caped crimebuster whilst carefully expanding the milieu and scope of Batman’s universe. That especially meant re-assessing his fearsome foes, who ceased to be harmless buffoons and inexorably metamorphosed back into the macabre Grand Guignol murder-fiends which typified the villains of the early 1940s.

This mini-renaissance also resulted in a groundbreaking experiment now lauded as one of the first great extended Batman epics…

The moody mayhem begins with ‘Asylum of the Futurians’ (Batman #229, by Robert Kanigher, Irv Novick & Frank Giacoia) pitting the astounded hero against a sect of self-proclaimed mutants who might simply have been the craziest, most self-deluding killers he had ever faced. Almost simultaneously, Detective Comics #408 offered a short sharp shocker by neophyte scripters Len Wein & Marv Wolfman. Limned by Neal Adams & Dick Giordano ‘The House That Haunted Batman’ showcased spectral apparitions, the apparent death of Robin and a devilish mystery callously perpetrated by one of the Gotham Guardian’s most sinister enemies. Frank Robbins, Novick & Giordano then addressed the ongoing social revolution as our hero stopped a juvenile delinquent gang-war. When the now united kids occupied a palatial new building the ‘Take-Over of Paradise’ (Batman #230) provoked a vicious murder. Luckily the Caped Crimebuster was on hand to solve the case before a renewed bloodbath began…

Detective #409 saw Batman face a disfigured lunatic slashing portraits and killing their subjects in ‘Man in the Eternal Mask’ (Robbins, Bob Brown & Giacoia) whilst next issue proved to be another chillingly memorable murder-mystery from the most celebrated creative team of the decade. ‘A Vow from the Grave!’ by Denny O’Neil, Adams & Giordano at their spectacular best featured an exhausted Batman hunting one ruthless killer and inadvertently stumbling into another murder amidst an enclave of retired circus freaks…

Multi-talented Dick Giordano was inker of choice for the Darknight Detective at this time: his slick, lush line and brushwork lending a veneer of continuity to every penciller. Unless I say otherwise, please assume it’s him on every cited story from now on…

The Dark Knight was lured to Vietnam to save an airliner full of hostages in Batman #231 (Robbins with Novick pencils), barely surviving a vicious vengeance scheme triggered by the ‘Blind Rage of the Ten-Eyed Man’. Then the first subtle plot-strands of a breathtakingly ambitious saga unlike anything seen in comics before were woven in Detective Comics #411. Still in the East, undercover and hunting Dr. Darrk (leader of lethally clandestine League of Assassins introduced in #405), Batman’s pursuit led ‘Into the Den of the Death-Dealers’ (O’Neil & Brown) where a climactic struggle resulted in the death monger’s demise and freedom for an exotic hostage he was holding. Her name was Talia…

We learned more of her in Batman #232 where O’Neil & Adams introduced her father – immortal eco-terrorist Ra’s Al Ghul – in a whirlwind adventure which became a signature high-point of the entire Batman canon. ‘Daughter of the Demon’ is a timeless globe-girdling pulp mystery yarn drawing the increasingly dark detective from Gotham’s concrete canyons to the Himalayas in search of Robin and Talia: hostages purportedly captured by forces inimical to both Batman and the mysterious figure who claims to working in secret to save the world…

Ra’s was a contemporary, hopefully more acceptable embodiment of the classic inscrutable ultimate foreign devil (typified in a less forgiving age as the “Yellow Peril” or Dr. Fu Manchu). This kind of alien archetype permeates popular fiction and is still an astonishingly powerful villain-symbol, although the character’s Arabic origins – neutral at that time – seem to uncomfortably embody a different kind of ethnic bogeyman in today’s world.

The concept of a villain who has the best interests of the planet at heart is also not new, but Ra’s Al Ghul – whose avowed intent is to reduce teeming humanity to viable levels and save the world from our poison – hit a chord in the 1970s, a period where ecological issues first came to the attention of the young. It was a rare kid who didn’t find a note of sense in what “the Demon’s Head” planned.

The spectacular tale ended with a shocking pronouncement of what Ra’s intended for Batman…

A return to relative normality came in ‘Legacy of Hate!’ (Detective Comics #412 by Robbins, Brown) as Bruce Wayne heads to Northern England for a convocation of kin gathered to settle the ownership and disposition of ancient Waynemoor Castle. Sadly, even Batman couldn’t separate the spate of attempted murders which followed into purely human perpetrators and the fault of the manor’s vengeful ghost knight…

DC #413 blended the spooky tone of the times with a healthy dose of social inclusion as ‘Freak-Out at Phantom Hollow!’ (Robbins & Brown) sees Batman saving two abused hippie kids being picked on by folk in a rural hamlet, only to become embroiled in a witch’s curse and mad bomber’s plot. Batman #233 was an all-reprint edition, after which #234 featured the stellar return of one of the hero’s most tragic foes. As comics became increasingly more anodyne in the 1950s, psychologically warped actualised schizophrenic Two-Face slipped from Batman’s roster of rogues, but with ‘Half an Evil’ (O’Neil, Adams & Giordano) he resurfaced at the forefront of grimmer, grittier stories. When a string of bizarre and brutal robberies afflicts Gotham, the baffled Batman must use all his ingenuity to discern the reasoning and discover the identity of a ruthless hidden mastermind in time to thwart a diabolical scheme…

An aura of Film Noir redemption colours O’Neil & Novick’s ‘Legend of the Key Hook Lighthouse!’ (Detective #414), as Batman tracks gunrunners to a haunted coastal bastion in Florida. However, only supernatural intervention enables him to save bystanders who, whilst not exactly innocent, certainly don’t deserve the fate psychotic banana republic despot General Ruizo planned for them…

In Batman #235’s ‘Swamp Sinister!’ (O’Neil & Novick) early insights into the true character of Talia and her ruthless sire manifest when the Dark Knight races to recover a stolen bio-weapon, whilst in Detective #415 Robbins & Brown’s ‘Challenge of the Consumer Crusader’ sees the Gotham Gangbuster uncover an extortion ring inside the nation’s most respected product-testing organisation.

Detective Comics #400 had introduced a dark twisted doppelganger to Gotham’s Guardian when driven scientist Kirk Langstrom created a serum to make him superior to Batman… and paid a heavy price. Over two further tales Langstrom and his fiancée Francine endured his monstrous transformations until Batman found a cure. Now that trilogy expanded in DC #416 as Robbins illustrated his own script in ‘Man-Bat Madness!’ Here Kirk seemingly slips back into his mutative madness. Luckily, Batman has the faith to look beyond appearances and discerns a hidden factor in the scientist’s inexplicable recidivism…

In Batman #236, Robbins & Novick blend mysticism with a solid murder-plot, cover-up and blistering action in ‘Wail of the Ghost-Bride!’ after which a journalist tries to become ‘Batman for a Night’ (Detective #417, Robbins, Brown & Giordano) but only succeeds after experiencing a similar crime-created loss…

‘Night of the Reaper!’ – by O’Neil, Adams & Giordano from Batman #237 – is another of the era’s most revered tales: a harrowing Halloween epic finding Robin working with his former mentor to solve a string of barbarous killings, only to uncover a pitifully deranged perpetrator as much sinned-against as sinner…

Following the cover of reprint giant Batman #238, Detective Comics #418 delivers a (temporary) finish to the short-lived career of The Creeper as ‘…And Be a Villain!’ (O’Neil & Novick) pits the Gotham Guardian against a former hero being simultaneously killed and driven crazy by his own powers. At the heart of the problem is a criminal scientist forcing The Creeper to steal in return for a promised cure, but that’s no help as Batman battles a foe faster, stronger, more agile and far scarier than he…

A corpse weighed down with Batman figurines leads our hero into an underworld imbroglio packed with shameful family freaks, a ruthless master smuggler and the pitiful ‘Secret of the Slaying Statues!’ (Detective #419 by O’Neil & Novick) before Christmas classic ‘Silent Night, Deadly Night!’ (O’Neil & Novick in Batman #239) sees the masked manhunter striving to save a desperate, poverty-struck single parent from making the worst decision of his life – with a little seasonal help from a Jolly higher power…

Robbins again solos for Detective Comics #420’s ‘Forecast for Tonight… Murder!’ as a radioactive dead man stalks one of Gotham’s greatest philanthropists, easily outwitting Batman’s every preventative measure. It only gets tougher when the hero discovers he might be safeguarding the wrong injured party…

The long-brewing war between Batman and Ra’s Al Ghul goes to Def Con 3 in Batman #240 when O’Neil, Novick & Giordano set the scene for a groundbreaking “series-within-a-series” soon to follow. After Batman uncovers one of his opponent’s less worthy and far more grisly projects, he is forced to compromise his principles and deliver ‘Vengeance for a Dead Man!’ The end result will be open war between Batman and the Demon’s Head…

Batman has to break a blackmailer who knows all Gotham’s dirty secrets out of prison during a full-scale riot in ‘Blind Justice… Blind Fear!’ (another all-Robbins affair from DC #421) whilst in the following issue O’Neil, Brown & Giordano have the Dark Knight expose a cunning hijacking ring using radical methodology for corporate reasons in ‘Highway to Nowhere!’ Another sociopathic killer then debuts in Batman #241 as the hero hunts freelance spy Colonel Sulphur, whose extortion scheme revolves around his threat to kill a Pentagon officer’s wife.

‘At Dawn Dies Mary McGuffin!’ by O’Neil & Novick sees Batman scouring Gotham in a tense race against the clock in direct counterpoint to Detective #423’s ‘The Most Dangerous Twenty Miles in Gotham City’ (Robbins, Brown) wherein the masked manhunter’s cognitive skills are tested trying to slip a Russian agent past a gang of ultra-patriots. The killers don’t care that he’s being exchanged for a captive American, they just want to kill a commie and send a message…

Batman #242-244 (and an epilogue from #245 not included in this volume) formed a single extended saga taken out of normal DC continuity. It promised the final confrontation between two opposing ideals. O’Neil, Novick & Giordano opened the campaign in Batman #242 with ‘Bruce Wayne – Rest in Peace!’ as – his civilian identity taken off the board – Batman gathers a small team of specialist allies. These comprise criminal alternate-identity Matches Malone, scientific advisor Dr. Harris Blaine and Ra’s’ top assassin Ling all coerced and sworn to destroy the Demon forever.

Meanwhile it was business as usual in Detective #424 where ‘Double-Cross-Fire!’ by Robbins & Brown played out an astoundingly cunning murder plot with Batman challenging Commissioner Gordon (and us readers) to spot a telltale clue giving the game away. O’Neil & Novick then get all Shakespearean in #425 where ‘The Stage is Set… for Murder!’ and Batman carefully seeks to glean which thespian is plotting a big, bloody finish before the curtain comes down forever…

O’Neil, Adams & Giordano returned with the second chapter of their landmark epic in Batman #243 as the team – plus latecomer Molly Post – bombastically invade Ra’s’ Swiss citadel moments after their intended target passes away. Nobody suspects the ageless villain’s resources include ‘The Lazarus Pit’ which can revive the dead…

In Detective #426, a spate of inexplicable suicides amongst the wealthy leads Batman to suave gambler Conway Treach: a man who just can’t lose. Soon, however, the huckster learns his grim opponent has his own system for winning ‘Killer’s Roulette!’ in another suspenseful all-Robbins gem leading chronologically and conclusively to Batman #244 and the fateful finale wherein ‘The Demon Lives Again!’ Sadly, despite all his supernal gifts and forces, Ra’s cannot escape the climactic vengeance of his implacable foe in dream-team O’Neil, Adams & Giordano’s compulsive climax.

With the game-changing classics in this volume, Batman finally and fully returned to the commercial and critical top flight he had enjoyed in the 1940s, reviving and expanding upon his original conception as a remorseless, relentless avenger of injustice. The next few years would see the hero rise to unparalleled heights of quality so stay tuned: the very best is just around the corner …that dark, dark corner…
© 1971, 1972, 2015 DC Comics. All rights reserved.

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Batman: The Sunday Classics 1943-1946


By Don Cameron, Bill Finger, Joe Samachson, Alvin Schwartz, Bob Kane, Jack Burnley, Fred Ray & various (Barnes & Noble/DC Comics/Kitchen Sink Press)
ISBN: 978-1-1402-4718-2 (Album HB) 978-0-87816-148-1 (PB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

If the newspaper comic strip was the 20th century’s Holy Grail, the Holiest of Holies was a full-colour Sunday page. These stunningly produced showcases for talent were delivered to families all across America and the wider world and inescapably formed part of the fabric of the mass entertainment society: demanding and generating the best of the best. Such was absolutely the case of the 1940s Batman and Robin strip: coming late to the party but developing into arguably the highest quality comics-to-strips offering of all.

Although a highpoint in strip cartooning, both iterations of the Batman feature were cursed by ill-timing. After years of dickering the daily debuted at a time when newspaper publishing was hampered by wartime rationing, and a changing marketplace meaning these strips never achieved the circulation they deserved. However, Sundays were given a new lease of life in the 1960s when DC began reprinting vintage stories in 80-Page Giants and Annuals.

The superior quality adventures were ideal action-mystery short stories, adding an extra cachet of exoticism for young readers already captivated by enjoying tales of their heroes that were positively ancient and redolent of History with a capital “H”.

The stories themselves are broken down into complete single page instalments building into short tales averaging between 4 to 6 pages per adventure. Mandatory esoteric foes include such regulars as The Penguin (twice), Joker, Catwoman and Two-Face and all-original themed villains like The Gopher, The Sparrow and Falstaff, but the bulk of the yarns offer more prosaic criminals, if indeed there is any antagonist at all. However, a policy of shorter individual story sequences means that there were 26 complete adventures for modern fans to enjoy now. especially if DC ever reprint and produce a digital edition of these classic romps…

A huge benefit of work produced for an audience deemed “more mature” is the freedom to explore human interest stories such as exonerating wrongly convicted men, fighting forest fires or discovering the identity of an amnesia victim. There are even jolly seasonal yarns…

The writers included comic book veterans Don Cameron, Bill Finger, Joe Samachson and Alvin Schwartz with art by Bob Kane, Jack Burnley and Fred Ray and inking by Win Mortimer and Charles Paris. The letterer was tireless, invisible calligraphic master Ira Schnapp and the strips were all coloured by Raymond Perry.

As with the companion Dailies collection this compendium is packed with info features and a wealth of extra features such as biographical notes, a history of the strip, promotional features and artefacts, behind-the-scenes artwork and sketches, and much more: offering history, context, appraisals, appreciations and a wealth of merchandising material courtesy of Joe Desris. These are divided into ‘Getting the Job Done’, ‘A History of the Batman and Robin Sundays’, ‘Biographies’, ‘Bubble Gum Similarities’, ‘Previous Reprintings’, ‘The McClure Syndicate’s Promotional Book’, ‘Jack Burnley’s Pencils’ plus contemporaneous article ‘Batman – Backward Looking and Forward Leaning’ by scripter Alvin Schwartz.

With far more emphasis on fun and thrills and less of murder and sinister extended-by-design skulduggery, the masked manhunters launch the Sunday sessions with Cameron – or possibly Samachson – Kane & Paris depicting ‘The Penguin’s Crime-Thunderstorms’ (weeks 1-6, November 7th – December 12th 1943). This brief introductory sally sees the Dynamic Duo thwarting the bird-based bandit’s cunning scheme to use bad weather and his patented uniquely weaponised bumbershoots to pluck penniless the most infamous miser in Gotham.

Weeks 7-10 (December 19th 1943 – January 9th 1944 by Finger, Kane & Paris) set a nautical themes as ‘The Secret of Cap’n Plankton’s Ghost’ finds our playboy heroes fishing in their civilian identities when the resort of Pirate’s Cove is raided by an ancient vessel packing very modern artillery. The robbed rich folk all believe it the last descendent of an infamous old buccaneer, but Batman and Robin find that’s not the case at all when they lower the boom on the true culprits…

Finger, Burnley & Paris produced the next dozen delights beginning with western teaser ‘Jesse James Rides Again!’ (weeks 11-15, January 16th – February 13th 1944) as a train robbery reenactment is hijacked by opportunistic modern bandits with a degree of panache after which ‘The Undersea Bank Bandits’ (16-20 February 20th – March 19th 1944) employ mining and diving techniques to plunder from below Gotham’s streets whilst ‘Liquid Gold!’ (21-26, March 26th – April 30th) finds our heroes out west helping prospector’s daughter Ruth Parker bring in her first oil well despite the machinations of a cunning property speculator…

Comedy loomed large in ‘Cap’n Alfred’ (weeks 27-31, May 7th – June 4th) as the faithful manservant dabbles in nautical lore and celebrates his family’s maritime heritage by taking a part-time job skippering the Gotham Ferry. His tenure begins in the middle of a major hijacking spree but – happily for all concerned – his usual employers had come aboard to see him shine… or not…

A truly crafty, twisty tale of cross and double-cross follows as the Dynamic Duo rush to prove the innocence of a man who claims to be ‘Death Row’s Innocent Resident’ (32-39, June 11th – July 30th) after which Jack Burnley joined Finger and Paris for a season of superb thrillers starting with ‘The Mardi Gras Mystery’ (40-46, August 6th – September 17th) as Bruce and Dick head to the Big Easy and stumble into a deadly con game turned lethal treasure hunt led by a genially murderous giant dubbed Falstaff…

Back home and enjoying the bucolic delights of an upstate County Fair, the off-duty Duo discover that ‘An Attic Full of Art’ (weeks 47-53, September 17th – November 5th) left to a couple of innocent hicks is plenty of reason for city slicker art dealer Maxwell to connive, cheat and even commit murder to corner the market. Time for the other suits, lads…

The year turned with a beguiling fantasy fable as ‘There Was a Crooked Man…’ (54-61, November 12th– December 31st 1944) saw our heroes drawn into a seemingly sinister chase across the seediest sectors of Gotham in pursuit of a villain out of a nursery rhyme. There was however, a solid sensible explanation for the rollercoaster rush & tumble…

Things turn deadly serious during a visit to timber country as ‘Holy Smoke!’ (62-68, January 7th – February 18th 1945) sees a recovering pyromaniac scapegoated for a series of deliberate fires, until Batman deduces the real reason and exposes the true culprit after which humour and pathos return in ‘An English Sassiety Skoit’, (69-72, February 25th – March 18th). When a pretty con-artist impersonates Alfred’s never-seen Australian niece and looks to cash in on the Wayne fortune, Batman and Robin must intervene with breaking the old soul’s heart, but severely underestimate their manservant’s detective skills, after which the heroes head out west again and find ‘Rustling on a Reservation’ (73-78, March 25th – April 29th) whilst helping “Pueblo Indians” stop a systematic plunder spree designed to starve them out and steal their ancestral lands…

Another spate of subsurface capers signal the debut of an engineering super-criminal as ‘The Gopher: King of the Underworld!’ (79-85, May 6th – June 17th) has bandits use tunnels and building works in their thefts, leading the Caped Crusaders a merry dance down below before good old detective digging unearths the mystery mastermind.

Bob Kane returned in 15th tale ‘The Tale of the Tinker Diamond’ (weeks 86-90, June 24th – July 22nd) as a gem cutter’s son is kidnapped to force his collusion in a massive jewel heist – until Batman intervenes – after which Schwartz, Burnley & Paris open the first of eight consecutive adventures with ‘A Pretty Amnesiac’ (91-97 July 29th – September 9th). When the Gotham Gangbusters save a young woman from brutal abductors they discover she has no memory and no identifying property, marks or characteristics. With the victim still hunted by her kidnappers, the World’s Greatest Detectives must identify her and stop an unimaginable injustice from occurring…

‘Devil’s Reef’ (98-103, September 16th– October 21st) details how Batman’s cross-continental manhunt for modern-day pirates The Miller Gang coincides with and converges on Alfred’s new hobby of treasure hunting, leading to a deadly entombment and spectacular escape before The Joker breaks jail to clash with new rival The Sparrow who constantly proves herself to be ‘Gotham’s Cleverest Criminal’ (104-110, October 28th – December 9th)… until the Dynamic Duo capture them both.

A fortnight of festive fun and sugar-candy sentiment follows the faithful butler playing ‘Alfred Claus’ (weeks 111-112, December 16th – 23rd) to a group of dead-end kids before a new year beckons and begins the final newspaper cases in ‘Twelvetoes’ (113-118, December 30th 1945-February 3rd 1946). Here an underweight, under-paid beat cop is – somehow! – set to marry a millionairess, but only if an old bankrupt roué with eyes on her bank figures can be stopped from “removing” his rival in blue. Happily, Batman and Robin are on hand to aid and save the connubial underdog, before we enjoy the most influential strip story of all as ‘Oswald Who?’ (February 10th – March 10th) sees the Dynamic Duo enjoying themselves immensely escorting The Penguin around Gotham as the Wily Old Bird seeks to impress his dowager Aunt Miranda. Of course, his best efforts end with him hunted by other hoods for collaborating with the enemy and behind bars once the old lady is safely off home, but at least Batman and all of us now know the villain’s real identity… Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot: a one-off gag that has become a confirmed snippet of Bat-Lore…

‘Hotel Grandeur’ (124-129, March 17th – April 21st) set a missing person mystery in a resort building housing the population and resources of a small city, with Bruce and Batman both hunting an abducted finance minister from Europe through its labyrinthine corridors and tunnels before ‘Catwoman’s Grasshopper Chase’ (130-137, April 28th – June 16th) sees Fred Ray (Superman, Tomahawk, Congo Bill) alternating pencilling with Burnley and Win Mortimer inking Schwartz’s tale of the hunted felon going on the offensive and trying to trash Batman’s reputation for infallibility by making him a laughing stock… yet another time the Dark Knight’s strategy demands Robin dress up as girl…

Finger, Burnley & Mortimer remodelled the story of Two-Face in ‘Half Man – Half Monster’ (138-146, June 23rd – August 18th) as actor Harvey Apollo is driven mad after an acid attack whilst on the witness stand. In the newspaper strip, his subsequent crime and killing spree has no cure or happy ending after Batman is forced to stop him…

When seer and mystic Jandor is murdered live on air by robbers ‘The Curse of the Four Fates!’ (147-154, August 25 – October 13th by Finger, Burnley & Paris) that he gasps out inexorably punishes the perpetrators despite every effort of the Caped Crimebusters to catch and/or save them. The Sunday ventures conclude with Schwartz, Burnley & Paris’ brief bout of ‘Tire Tread Deathtrap’ (weeks 155-156, October 20th & 27th 1946) as a set of tracks lead to the heroes entering and escaping a cunning ambush and getting their man one last time…

This amazing compilation ends with tantalising lost treats beginning with some unattributed Batman strips from an abortive revival in ‘Later Newspaper Strips: 1953’, backed up by ‘Later Newspaper Strips: 1966’: offering Dailies from that successful venture which you can find fully collected in 3 volumes of Batman: Silver Age Dailies and Sundays.

Also on view are ‘Later Newspaper Strips: 1978’ by Martin Pasko, George Tuska & Vince Colletta featuring Superman and Wonder Woman from Justice League based feature The World’s Greatest Superheroes plus ‘The Superman Sunday Special’ activity page by José Luis García-López and examples of the Batman strip revival engendered by the first Tim Burton movie. ‘Later Newspaper Strips: 1989’ offers segments by Max Allan Collins, Bill Messner-Loebs, Carmine Infantino (as “Cinfa”) Marshal Rogers & John Nyberg with the entire celebration closing with a discussion of (Dick) ‘Tracy’s Influence’: comparing names, locales and especially the pioneering strip’s preponderance of grotesque villains…

This lovely oversized (241 x 318 mm) full colour hardback and softcover tome was originally published in conjunction by DC Comics & Kitchen Sink Press in 1991, and is filled with death traps, daring escapes, canny ratiocination, moving melodrama, stirring sentiment and lots and lots of astounding action: in fact a perfect Batman book. It’s long past time it was back in print – and eBooked too – as it’s a must for both Bat-fans and lovers of the artform.
© 1991, 2007 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman: The Black Casebook


By Bill Finger, France Herron, Edmond Hamilton, Dave Wood, Lew Sayre Schwartz, Sheldon Moldoff, Dick Sprang, Charles Paris, Stan Kaye & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2264-2 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Despite having his name writ large on the cover the only thing Grant Morrison produced for this weird and wonderful compilation is the introduction, so if he’s the reason you buy Batman you’re in for a little disappointment. However if you feel like seeing the incredible stories that inspired him, then you’re in for a bizarre and baroque treat as this collection features a coterie of tales considered far too outlandish and fanciful to be canonical for the last few decades but now reintroduced to the mythology of the Dark Knight as a casebook of the “strangest cases ever told!”…

Tales from the overwhelmingly anodyne 1950s (and just a little overlap in the 1960s) always favoured plot over drama – indeed, a strong argument could be made that all DC’s post-war costumed crusaders actually shared the same character (and yes, I’m including Wonder Woman) – so narrative impetus focuses on comfortably familiar situations, outlandish themes and weird paraphernalia. As a kid they simply blew me away. They still do.

Starting things off is a ‘A Partner for Batman’ (Batman #65 June/July 1951) by Bill Finger, Lew Sayre Schwartz & Charles Paris, wherein the masked mentor’s training of a foreign hero is misconstrued as a way of retiring the current Boy Wonder, whereas a trip way out west introduces the Dynamic Duo to their Native American analogues in ‘Batman… Indian Chief!’ (#86 September 1954, by Ed “France” Herron, Sheldon Moldoff & Stan Kaye), before ‘The Batmen of All Nations!’ (Detective Comics #215, January 1955 by Edmond Hamilton, Moldoff & Paris) took the sincere flattery a step further by introducing nationally-themed imitations from Italy, France, England, South America and Australia: all attending a convention that’s doomed to disaster.

A key story of this period introduced a strong psychological component to Batman’s origins in ‘The First Batman’ (Detective Comics #235, September 1955) by Finger, Moldoff & Kaye, after which the international knock-offs reconvened to meet Superman and shocking new mystery-hero in ‘The Club of Heroes’ (World’s Finest Comics #89, July/August 1957 -Hamilton and magnificent Dick Sprang & Kaye).

Detective #247 (September 1957, by Finger, Moldoff & Paris) introduced malevolent Professor Milo who used psychological warfare and scientific mind-control to attack our heroes in ‘The Man who Ended Batman’s Career’ with the same creative team bringing him back for an encore in Batman #112’s ‘Am I Really Batman?’

Herron scripted one of Sprang & Paris’ most memorable art collaborations in incredible spectacular ‘Batman – Superman of Planet X!’ (Batman #113, February 1958) before Finger, Moldoff & Paris unleashed the Gotham Guardian’s most controversial “partner” in manic mirthquake ‘Batman Meets Bat-Mite’ (Detective Comics #267, May 1959). In comparison, ‘The Rainbow Creature’ (Batman #134, September 1960) is a rather tame monster-mash from Finger & Moldoff which only serves to make the next tale more impressive.

‘Robin Dies at Dawn’ by Finger, Moldoff & Paris is an eerie epic first seen in Batman #156, June 1963 (supplemented by, but not dependent upon, a Robin solo adventure sadly omitted from this collection). Here Batman experiences truly hideous travails on an alien world culminating in the death of his young partner. I’m stopping there as it’s a great story and plays a crucial part in latter day sagas Batman: R.I.P., The Black Glove and others. Buy this book and read it yourself…

But wait: There’s more! From the very end times of vintage-style tales comes inexplicably daft but brilliant ‘The Batman Creature!’ (Batman #162, March 1964) by an unknown writer (latterly identified as Dave Wood), Moldoff & Paris, wherein Robin and Batwoman must cope with a Caped Crusader horrifically transformed into a rampaging giant monster. Shades of King Kong, Bat-fans!

Even though clearly collected to cash in on the success of modern Morrison vehicles, these stories have intrinsic worth and power of their own, and such angst-free exploits from a bygone age still have the magic to captivate and enthral. Do not dismiss them and don’t miss out!
© 1951, 1954-1960, 1963, 1964, 2009 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Batman: The Daily Classics 1943-1946 AKA Batman: The Dailies 1943-1946


By Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Don Cameron, Alvin Schwartz, Jack Schiff, Jack Burnley, Dick Sprang, Charles Paris, Stan Kaye & various (Sterling/DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4027-4717-5 (HB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

For most of the 20th century newspaper comic strips were the Holy Grail cartoonists and graphic narrative storytellers hungered for. Syndicated across the country and the planet with millions of readers; accepted (in most places) as a more mature and sophisticated form of literature than comic books, they also paid better. The Holiest of Holies was a full-colour Sunday page…

However, it was usually something of a poisoned chalice when original comic book stars became so popular that they swam against the tide to become syndicated strips. After all, weren’t funnybooks invented just to reprint newspaper stars in a cheap accessible form? Superman, Wonder Woman, Archie Andrews and a few others made the jump in the 1940s and many “four-color” features have done so since. One of the most highly regarded came late to the party, both in its daily and Sunday format. It was called Batman and Robin.

Although a highpoint in strip cartooning, both 1940s iterations of Batman seemed cursed – especially by bad timing. After years of negotiating, the Daily strip finally debuted during a period in newspaper publishing afflicted by war-time rationing, shortages and a volatile marketplace. Thus it never achieved the circulation it deserved, but at least some Sundays eventually won a new lease of life when DC began reprinting vintage stories in the 1960s in their 80-Page Giants and Annuals. The superior quality adult/family oriented adventures of were ideal action-mystery fare, and also added an extra cachet of exoticism for young readers already captivated by tales of their heroes that were positively ancient and redolent of History with a capital “H”.

The original printings comprising this epic hardback compilation tome were three volumes co-published by DC and Kitchen Sink Press in 1990. This 21st century re-issue is a cheaply-bound hardback easily damaged by its own bulk and poor quality stitching, so if given the choice get the trade paperbacks. Ideally of course, multimedia giant DC would release this whole collection digitally…

Each landscape TPB offered a wealth of superb background information provided by Joe Desris in his ‘A History Of The 1940s Batman Newspaper strip’. It remains in three parts, scattered throughout the book and preceding each monochrome section. Perhaps that’s best as it’s a phenomenal, near-overwhelming feat of scholarship offering history, biographies, historical anecdotes, context, critique and comparisons, a description of what was happening in the comics at the time and a mouth-watering mountain of candid photos, print and movie serial promotional material, individual essays on the creators and their strips, contributions and even merchandise memorabilia: all combining to form a fantastically informative and extensive overview detailing the strip, its antecedents and the tantalising minutiae, how it came to be and even why it never found an readership…

Nevertheless what you want is the stories, so following all that schooling comes sheer entertainment and an Introduction Week of strips by Finger & Kane with Charles Paris applying inks and crafting shading in a sequence setting the scene and revealing the secrets of Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, Alfred and the rest of the cast. This was used as a compulsory starter for any and every paper picking up the strip and was initially seen between October 25th to 30th 1943.

From there it’s straight into action as ‘What a Sweet Racket!’ (Finger, Kane & Paris spanning 1st November 1943 – 8th January 1944) sees the Batsignal lit, summoning the Dynamic Duo to find missing Police Commissioner Gordon…

The doughty lawman disappeared soon after visiting convict Spike Durphy at State Prison, and the con is also now gone! Although quickly recovered by the masked manhunters, Gordon has uncovered a sinister scheme to spring prisoners from jail and get them out of town. After many near-death incidents Batman and Robin realise the gang are well imbedded in Gotham and are playing more than one game, but what no one knows is that there’s a spy on the task force and the mobsters have a second scheme in play to remove their greatest enemy.

Of course the World’s Greatest Detective has already spotted a major giveaway and is ready to swoop when the time is right…

Switching from crime thriller to melodrama, second sortie ‘The Phantom Terrorist’ (Finger, Kane & Paris from 10th January to 18th March 1944) traces the macabre manoeuvres of a seeming maniac targeting dancer Rita Rollins. However, a little digging by theatregoers Wayne and Grayson exposes plenty of grudges and simmering tensions fraying the nerves of management, cast and crew; any one of whom could be the phantom saboteur spoiling the production and nearly killing many performers and audience members…

Oddly, even after devious deduction and dynamic derring-do leads to the capture of “The Terrorist”, accidents keep happening and the sleuths must think again – with some insightful input from Alfred – to stop tragedy occurring…

In pursuing a “more mature” newspaper readership editor Jack Schiff and the creators were mindful to keep supervillain appearances to a minimum and play up themes and plots familiar to movie-trained audiences. That might explain why killer-clown The Joker made an early appearance: his look was reputedly based on Conrad Veidt as tragic antihero Gwynplaine in the 1928 expressionist movie masterpiece The Man Who Laughed (itself an adaptation of Victor Hugo’s classic novel).

Again crafted by Finger, Kane & Paris and running Mondays to Saturdays from 20th March through 3rd June 1944, ‘The Joker’s Symbol Crimes’ opens with the villain in jail and seemingly suffering a psychological breakdown. It’s hard to tell with the “Clown Prince of Crime” but the situation is simply a ploy to escape and – once again at liberty – he goes on another terrifying spree based on images of symbolic value to the victims in an attempt to categorically prove his superiority to Batman. The chase leads all over Gotham and includes a fantastic sequence dangling from a clock tower that informed Bat-iconology for decades after as well as the climactic scene in Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman movie…

It should also be noted that as a maturer feature, these Batman adventures casually included a lot more scantily clad ladies than the comic book iteration: generally actresses like Rita Rollins or, as here, svelte starlet Miss Gaylord…

Big changes began with the fourth sequence as new writers delivered shorter, snappier adventures. beginning with ‘The Secret of Triangle Farm’ (5th June -12th August) by crime novelist Don Cameron. His comic book credits included Superman, Liberty Belle, Boy Commandos, Superboy, Aquaman, Congo Bill and DC western stars Pow Wow Smith, Hopalong Cassidy and Nighthawk) and with Kane & Paris he revealed here how fur thieves used their isolated spread to launder a string of brutal robberies. Mastermind The Silver Fox even managed to shoot the Darknight Detective, generating harrowing weeks of tense melodrama as he hovered between life and death. The Boy Wonder briefly worked alone until forced to recruit a lookalike Batman from the police force, but the ploy ended in shocking tragedy and ultimately a bittersweet victory when the true masked manhunter returned…

‘The Missing Heir Dilemma’ saw more radical roster changes with Alvin Schwartz (as Vernon Woodrum  and later scripter of many DC stars including Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Newsboy Legion, Aquaman, Vigilante, Slam Bradley, Tomahawk and the Superman newspaper strip), beginning the mystery with Kane pencilling the first 2 weeks before newspaper strip star/sports cartoonist Jack Burnley (Superman, Starman) replaced him. As ever Paris inked the tale which ran from 14th August to October 28th 1944.

It begins as super-slick sadistic Southern conman Percy Swann joins forces with local mobster “The Spaniel” to extend the scammer’s grift of choice by “finding” lost inheritors like Eggbert Dover. The Dynamic Duo find the petty criminal first but cannot see what benefit to major felons the job would afford… but that’s only until the real target is revealed and the long con exposed. Sadly, dying William Jenkin enjoys a miraculous recovery after Swann introduces him to the son he lost decades ago and when the located prodigal suffers pangs of conscience, steps need to be taken if the job is to succeed…

When those murderous efforts inadvertently involve Bruce Wayne’s girlfriend (nurse Linda Page) our heroes find the link they’ve been looking for and justice takes its harsh course…

The next five stories (preceded by another titanic tranche of information from Deris) originally comprised the second 1990s’ collection (covering 1944-1945) but here rolls straight on with Schwartz, Kane & Paris’ ‘The Two-Bit Dictator of Twin Mills’ (October 30th 1944 – January 27th 1945). This time dirty politics and graft are the topical topics as Bruce and Dick relocate to a nearby city and into a war between honest newspaper editor Ben Bellow and corrupt party boss Tweed Wickham. When Bellow won’t stop crusading his offices are blown up and friend/shareholder Wayne takes over the Twin Mills Sentinel and is soon finishing the job of dismantling Wickham’s all-powerful party machine. Despite the best efforts of corrupted cops, bought judges outlawing Batman & Robin, an army of cheap thugs and creepily “infallible” hired killer JoJo (based on actor Peter Lorre at his most sinister) the outcome is never in doubt. However, when JoJo feels he’s been betrayed by his employers a deadly wild card threatens to end everyone concerned on all sides…

Jack Schiff returned to his writing roots for next yarn ‘Bliss House Ain’t the Same’ (January 29th – April 28th) as Gotham suburb Midville Junction welcomes back prodigal son Martin Bliss. Sadly, his reunion at the old homestead reveals an unwanted and monstrous cuckoo in the nest and his fiery mother a virtual hostage. Fugitive poetic gangster Pomade is ruling the roost and soon “disappears” Martin’s girlfriend Corrine to further robberies involving shady gangster Skipper Keane… which is where Batman comes in as he’s just confirmed that gunman’s participation in a recent hold-up…

A classic caper of crooks, kidnaps, chases and sinister doings, the building tension culminates in an eerie subterranean pursuit and marine manhunt ending in the death of a tragic monster before Schiff, Burnley & Paris find true romance in ‘The Karen Drew Mystery’ (April 30th – July 7th). Here Bruce Wayne’s latest flighty fascination proves to be a real dark horse and his equal in ingenuity who initially frames him for murder before becoming a fellow fugitive from justice. Literally tied together Bruce and Karen hunt the real culprit with the Gotham cops dogging their heels until she brings him to the real enemy – blackmailing smuggler Mr. Wright –  and a rightful if rough and (for Bruce) unsatisfactory conclusion…

A moment of rare tranquillity opens Schwartz, Kane & Paris’ ‘Their Toughest Assignment’ (July 9th – September 1st) as Commissioner Gordon is compelled to pay off a longstanding police debt of honour and calls in Batman and Robin despite the matter having “nothing to do with crime”…

Big Ed Parker helped out the force in times of trouble and now needs to find his daughter an apartment in the city already groaning under a housing crisis caused by returning military and demobbed civilian workers all freshly out of WWII. It’s a conundrum even vast personal wealth and all the skills of the World’s Greatest Detectives can’t readily solve, and is soon complicated by equally desperate seekers competing for the premises of murder victims, upward moving millionaires and recently arrested felons.

Aso it doesn’t stay felony-free for long as even when they do find a home for Phyllis Parker it turns out to be an active crime scene and even Phyllis isn’t on the level…

Moving from wry topical humour to macabre murder mystery the same creative team detail ‘The Warning of the Lamp!’ (September 3rd – November 24th 1945) as a fishing trip lands Bruce & Dick in the heart of a mystery as fellow angler Finlay Gribbidge reels up a jacket with his name in that he’s never seen before…

Bitten by the mystery, Bruce pursues the odd coincidence and is soon wading through a complicated scam involving a cult of vegetarians led by a dubious prophet/spiritualist with his eye on a convoluted property scam. His multi-million dollar payout is almost assured and The Lamp is quite content to kill anyone in his way unless Bruce can find a way to foil him…

The third and final individual outing becomes the last section of this 40s Batman compilation, again enhanced by fascinating Bat-lore from Joe Desris (including a complete list of all the papers that carried the feature and a comparison of the comic book and strip interpretations of the Doctor Radium story).

From November 26th 1945 to February 9th 1946 Schwartz, Burnley Kane & Paris explored ‘An Affair of Death’ as a stolen car racket plagues Gotham and Bruce Wayne acts as an undercover agent of the DA’s office. Although the police arrest many lower down the chain, the endeavour prospers and Wayne agrees to buy a hot car from the enigmatic bosses. That trail seemingly leads to hulking, speech-impaired crime boss Lockjaw and his ubiquitous, obsequious major domo Echo, but something isn’t right…

In an effort to stop the interference, Lockjaw springs from jail young “gypsy” Eduardo (no such thing as Roma outside horror movies back then). The boy is already serving time for threatening the DA to protect his sister’s honour and Lockjaw tries to coerce the angry kid to get rid of his legal problems – but with no effect. Meanwhile said sister Juanita has already painfully interacted with Bruce, and when Batman follows her the truth slowly comes out, but not before the real leader captures the siblings and tries again to make them his patsies. As events spiral out of control a degree of disguise and identity trading leads to a vicious showdown and honour bloodily restored…

Jack Schiff clearly had fun great scripting ‘A Change of Costume’ (February 11th – March 23rd) for strip debutantes Dick Sprang & Stan Kaye as Gordon and Batman planned a big bust and the arrest of notorious gangster “Slugger” Kaye. The scheme involved tricking their quarry into attending a society ball he had never before missed but all the cheeky fun came as the Dynamic Duo attend dressed as Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.

Robin was mad enough to be turning villainous heads as the glamorous Queen of France even before Slugger introduced his own “insurance policy”/escort – formidable female fighter Hammerlock Hilda. When she started laying out the attendees… all heck broke loose…

Reining in the delicious comedy Schwartz, Kane & Paris revealed how a ruthless, intrusive radio journalist Reed Parker broke all rules and abandoned ethics to trump his rivals with ‘The News That Makes the News’ (March 25th – June 1st). His scandalous scoops spoil police plans, endanger witnesses and allow the guiltiest scum in America to run free, but when he stepped over the line once too often, the government asked Batman and Robin to ferret out his sources and found a dark criminal secret at the heart of Parker’s crusade – one that could expose the Dark Knight’s other identity to the lethal glare of exposure…

Schwartz, Kane & Paris then revealed how a bridegroom on his wedding day only had ‘Ten Days to Live!’ (June 3rd – August 3rd). Cappy Wren’s shocking prognosis spurs his bride to marry him at once, but as the countdown ticks away Batman and Robin become involved when the living deadman tries to make his end meaningful by going after notorious criminals like Monty Flak…

When that results in hoods and hoodlums seeking to speed up that demise, counterattacks by the Gotham Guardians result in a bonanza of arrests and big surprise happy ever after…

The law process is severely scrutinised by the same creative team in penultimate thriller ‘Acquitted By Iceberg’ (August 5th – September 21st) when the most cunning, unscrupulous and infallible defense lawyer in America sets up his shingle in Gotham and starts allowing the worst of the worst back onto its bloodstained streets. After numerous confrontations produce nothing but stalemate, Batman’s dogged determination finally overwhelms the Iceberg’s patience and when he finally steps over his own legal line, the true victor is justice…

First told in Batman #8 (1941), the last strip escapade adapts ‘The Strange Case of Professor Radium’ which told of a scientist abused by money-grubbing financial backers who turned himself into a deadly radioactive marauder. Here original writer Bill Finger with Kane & Paris radically revises, recycles and expands the moody horror as arrogant nuclear physicist Professor Knell accidently overdoses on radiation and becomes a madly murderous menace dubbed ‘Deadly Professor Radium’ (September 23rd – November 2nd). After developing a “death touch” and going on a horrific rampage of mercy-killings bringing peace and final rest to the afflicted whether they seek it or not, he meets his own end after turning the city into an abandoned ghost town, with scenes presaging the atomic monster tropes of the following 15 years. In the end it’s not the heroes who end the threat but hubris and fate…

And that was that. The daily strip incarnation of Batman and Robin closed with no fanfare and little lamentation as post-war America turned to different kinds of two-fisted champions for their family Funny Page hits. The Sunday page had already ended (on October 27th 1946) and world of regulation he-men in dire straits – but no tights and much military regalia – waited in the wings. However time and distance have showed us these are truly tales of golden vintage and inestimable value. It’s long past time this stuff was back in print, and available in digital formats too – as it’s a must for both Bat-fans and lovers of the artform.
© 1991, 2007 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Showcase Presents Martian Manhunter volume 1


By Jack Miller, Joe Samachson, Dave Wood, Edmund Hamilton, Bob Kane, Joe Certa, Lew Sayre Schwartz & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-1368-8 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced during less enlightened times.

Stress-alleviating Fun is in pretty short supply everywhere these days, but if you’re a comics fan susceptible to charming nostalgia, this item – readily available in paperback, but tragically still not formally full-colour archived or even compiled in any digital format yet – might just appeal to the starry-eyed wonderer in you.

As the 1950’s opened, comic book superheroes were in inescapable decline, giving way to a steady stream of genre-locked he-men and “Ordinary Joes” dramatically caught up in weird or extraordinary circumstances. By the time the “Red-baiting”, witch-hunting Senate hearings and media investigations into causes of juvenile delinquency fizzled out mid-decade, the industry was further depleted by the excision of any sort of mature content or themes.

The self-imposed Comics Code Authority took all the hard edges out of the industry, banning horror and crime comics whilst leaving ghostly, sanitised anodyne shades to inhabit the remaining adventure, western, war, humour and fantasy titles that remained. American comics – for which read a misperceived readership comprising only children and cretins – could have bowdlerised concepts of evil and felonious conduct, but not the simplest note of repercussion: a world where mad scientists plotted to conquer humanity without killing anybody and cowboys severed gun-belts or shot guns out of opponents’ hands with a well-aimed bullet without ever drawing blood. Moreover, no civil or government official or public servant could be depicted as anything other than a saint…

With corruption, venality and menace excised from the equation, comics were forced to supply punch and tension to proceedings via mystery and imagination – but only as long as it all had a rational, non-supernatural explanation…

Beating by a year the new Flash (who launched in Showcase #4 cover-dated October 1956) and now officially the first superhero of the Silver Age, the series depicting the clandestine cases of stranded alien scientist J’onn J’onzz was initially entitled John Jones, Manhunter from Mars: an honourable, decent being unwillingly trapped on Earth who chose to confront injustice and fight crime secretly using incredible powers, knowledge and advanced technical abilities with no human even aware of his existence.

In truth, even before that low-key debut, Batman #78 trialled the concept in ‘The Manhunter From Mars!’ (August/September 1953) wherein Edmund Hamilton, Bob Kane, Lew Sayre Schwartz & Charlie Paris told the tale of Roh Kar: lawman of the Fourth Planet who assisted the Dynamic Duo in capturing a Martian bandit plundering Gotham City. That stirring titbit opens this first magnificent monochrome compendium before doling out a main course of the eccentric, frequently formulaic but never disappointing back-up series from Detective Comics #225 to 304, cumulatively spanning November 1955 to June 1962.

In one of the longest creative tenures in DC comics’ history, all the art for the series was by veteran illustrator Joe Certa (1919-1986), who had previously worked for the Funnies Incorporated comics “Shop”. His credits included work on Captain Marvel Junior and assorted genre titles for Magazine Enterprises (Dan’l Boone, Durango Kid), Lev Gleason’s crime comics and Harvey romance titles. For DC he drew nautical sleuth Captain Compass and many tales for such anthological titles as Gang Busters and House of Mystery.

Certa also drew the newspaper strips Straight Arrow and Tarzan, and ghosted long-lived boxing strip Joe Palooka. In the 1970s he moved to Gold Key, working on TV adaptations, mystery tales and all-ages horror stories, before ending his career at DC on Challengers of the Unknown and Legion of Super-Heroes…

At the height of global Flying Saucer fever John Jones, Manhunter from Mars debuted in Detective Comics #225 (cover-dated November 1955). Written by Joe Samachson, ‘The Strange Experiment of Dr. Erdel’ describes how a reclusive genius builds a robot-brain able to access Time, Space and the Fourth Dimension, and accidentally plucks an alien scientist from his home on Mars. After a brief conversation with his unfortunate guest, Erdel succumbs to a heart attack whilst attempting to return the incredible J’onn J’onzz to his point of origin.

Marooned on Earth, the Martian realises his new home is riddled with the primitive cancer of Crime and resolves to use his natural abilities (which include telepathy, mind-over-matter psychokinesis, shape-shifting, invisibility, intangibility, super strength and speed, flight, assorted super vision powers, invulnerability and many more) to eradicate the blight; working clandestinely disguised as a human policeman. His only concern is the commonplace chemical reaction of fire which saps all Martians of their mighty powers…

With his name Americanised to John Jones he enlists as a Police Detective and with #226’s ‘The Case of the Magic Baseball’ began a long, peril-fraught career tackling a variety of Earthly thugs, mobsters and monsters, starting with the sordid case of Big Bob Michaels – a reformed ex-con and baseball player blackmailed into throwing games by a gang of crooked gamblers. He continues in ‘The Man with 20 Lives’ as the mind-reading cop impersonates a ghost to force a confession from a hard-bitten killer.

The tantalising prospect of a return to Mars confronts Jones in the Dave Wood scripted ‘Escape to the Stars’ (Detective #228) wherein criminal scientist Alex Dunster cracks the secret of Erdel’s Robot Brain. However, duty overrules selfish desire and the mastermind destroys his stolen super-machine when Jones arrests him…

With #229 Jack Miller took over scripting, leading off with ‘The Phantom Bodyguard’ as the Hidden Hero signs on to protect a businessman from his murderous partner, only to discover a far more complex plot unfolding, before #230’s ‘The Sleuth Without a Clue’ sees the covert cop battling a deadline to get the goods on a vicious gang, just as a wandering comet causes his powers to malfunction…

Detective Comics #231 heralds a shift towards sci fi roots in ‘The Thief Who Had Super Powers!’, as an impossible bandit proves to be simply another refugee from the Red Planet, after which ‘The Dog with a Martian Master’ is revealed to be just another delightful if fanciful animal champion. Jones returns to straight crimebusting and clandestine cops-&-robbers capers by becoming ‘The Ghost from Outer Space’ in #233 before going undercover in a prison to thwart a smart operator in #234’s ‘The Martian Convict’.

Jones infiltrates a circus as ‘The World’s Greatest Magician’ to catch a Phantom Thief and finally re-establishes contact with his extraterrestrial family to solve ‘The Great Earth-Mars Mystery’ in #236, all before seeing out 1956 as ‘The Sleuth Who went to Jail’ (this time one operated by crooks) and loses his powers to work as an ‘Earth Detective for a Day’ in #238.

For Detective #239 (January 1957) ‘Ordeal By Fire!’ finds the Anonymous Avenger transferred to the Fire Department to track down an arson ring, whilst in ‘The Hero Maker’ Jones surreptitiously uses his gifts to help a retiring cop go out on a high, prior to yet another firebug targeting historical treasures sparking ‘The Impossible Manhunt!’ in #241.

Jones thought he’d be safe as a underwater officer in ‘The Thirty Fathom Sleuth’ but even there flames find a way to threaten him, after which he battles legendary Martian robot Tor in #243’s ‘The Criminal from Outer Space’, latterly doubling for an endangered actor in ‘The Four Stunts of Doom!’ and busting up a clever racket utilising ‘The Phantom Fire Alarms!’ in #245.

As a back-up feature, expectations were never particularly high but occasionally all those formula elements gelled to produce exemplary adventure tales such as #246’s ‘John Jones’ Female Nemesis’, introducing pert, perky and pestiferous trainee policewoman Diane Meade. Being a 1950’s woman, naturally she had romance most in mind, but was absent for the next equally engaging thriller wherein our indomitable alien cop puzzled over ‘The Impossible Messages’ of scurrilous smugglers and #248’s marvellous tale of ‘The Martian Without a Memory’. Struck by lightning, Jones must utilise earthly deductive skills to discern his lost identity, and almost exposes his own extraterrestrial secret in the process…

In Detective #249’s ‘Target for a Day’ the Martian disguises himself as the State Governor marked for death by a brutal gang whilst as ‘The Stymied Sleuth!’ he is forced to stay in hospital to protect his alien identity as radium thieves run amok in town, after which he seemingly becomes a brilliant crook himself… ‘Alias Mr. Zero’.

For #252 Jones confronts a scientific super-criminal in ‘The Menace of the Super-Weapons’ before infiltrating a highly suspicious newspaper as ‘The Super Reporter!’ and invisibly battle rogue soldiers as ‘The One-Man Army’ in #254. The Hidden Hero attempts to foil an audacious murder-plot encompassing the four corners of Earth in a ‘World-Wide Manhunt!’, after which #256’s ‘The Carnival of Doom’ pits him against crafty crooks whilst babysitting a VIP kid whilst #257 sees the Starborn Sleuth perpetrating spectacular crimes to trap the ‘King of the Underworld!’

In Detective #258 Jones takes an unexpectedly dangerous vacation cruise on ‘The Jinxed Ship’ and return to tackle another criminal genius in ‘The Getaway King!’ before helping a failing fellow cop in the heartwarming tale of ‘John Jones’ Super-Secret’, after which ab-normality resumes in #261 as a shrink ray reduces him to ‘The Midget Manhunter!’.

It was an era of ubiquitous evil masterminds and another one used beasts for banditry in ‘The Animal Crime Kingdom’, whilst a sinister stage magician tested Manhunter’s mettle and wits in #263’s ‘The Crime Conjurer!’ before the hero’s hidden powers are almost exposed after cheap hoods find a crashed capsule and unleash ‘The Menace of the Martian Weapons!’

Masked and costumed villains were still a rarity when J’onzz tackled ‘The Fantastic Human Falcon’ in #265 whilst ‘The Challenge of the Masked Avenger!’ was the only case for a new – and inept – wannabe hero, after which the Martian’s sense of duty and justice force him to forego a chance to return home in #267’s ‘John Jones’ Farewell to Earth!’

A menacing fallen meteor results in ‘The Mixed-Up Martian Powers’ and a blackmailing reporter almost becoming ‘The Man who Exposed John Jones’, before a trip escorting an extradited felon from Africa results in J’onzz becoming ‘The Hunted Martian’. The Manhunter’s origin was revisited in #271 when Erdel’s robot-brain accidentally froze the Martian’s powers in ‘The Lost Identity’ whilst death threats compelled Jones’ boss to appoint a well-meaning hindrance in the form of ‘The Super-Sleuth’s Bodyguard’…

By the time Detective Comics #273 was released (autumn 1959 and cover-dated November) the Silver Age superhero revival was in full swing and, with a plethora of new costumed characters catching the public imagination, old survivors and hardy perennials like Green Arrow, Aquaman and others were given a thorough makeover. Perhaps the boldest was the new direction taken by the Manhunter from Mars as his undercover existence on Earth was revealed to all mankind when he very publicly battled and defeated a criminal from his home world in ‘The Unmasking of J’onn J’onzz’. As part of the revamp, J’onzz lost the ability to use his powers whilst invisible and became a very high-profile superhero. At least that vulnerability to common flame was still a closely guarded secret…

Nonetheless, this tale was followed by the debut of incendiary villain ‘The Human Flame’ in #274 and the introduction of a secret-identity-hunting romantic interest as policewoman Diane Meade returned in #275 recast as ‘John Jones’ Pesky Partner’…

‘The Crimes of John Jones’ finds the new superhero an amnesiac pawn of bank robbers before another fantastic foe premiered in #277 with ‘The Menace of Mr. Moth’. Invading Venusians almost cause ‘The Defeat of J’onn J’onzz’ next, and a hapless millionaire inventor nearly wrecks the city by accident with ‘The Impossible Inventions’…

Advance word of an underworld plot compels the Manhunter to be ‘Bodyguard to a Bandit’ and keep a crook out of jail, whilst #281’s ‘The Menace of Marsville’ inadvertently grants criminals powers to equal his after which another fallen meteorite temporarily makes Diane ‘The Girl with the Martian Powers’ – or does it?

To help out an imperilled ship captain, J’onzz becomes ‘The Amazing One-Man Crew’ whilst in #284 Diane – unaware of his extraterrestrial origins – seeks to seduce her partner in ‘The Courtship of J’onn J’onzz!’ after which monster apes tear up the city in ‘The Menace of the Martian Mandrills!’

Detective #286 found ‘His Majesty, John Jones’ standing in for an endangered Prince in a take on The Prisoner of Zenda before ‘J’onn J’onzz’s Kid Brother!’ T’omm is briefly stranded on Earth. Only one of the siblings could return…

‘The Case of the Honest Swindler’ in #288 sees a well-meaning man accidentally endanger the populace with magical artefacts after which a quick trip to Asia pits the Martian against a cunning jungle conman in ‘J’onn J’onzz – Witch Doctor’. Then when a movie is repeatedly sabotaged, Diane assumes the job of lead stunt-girl with some assistance from the Manhunter in ‘Lights, Camera – and Doom!’ and a lovesick suitor masquerades as ‘The Second Martian Manhunter’ to win his bride in #291. ‘The Ex-Convicts Club’ almost founders before it begins after someone impersonates reformed criminals to pull new jobs. Luckily J’onzz is more trusting than most…

Diane finds herself with a rival in policewoman Sally Winters and their enmity can apparently only be resolved with ‘The Girl-Hero Contest!’, after which the Manhunter pursues crooks into another dimension and becomes ‘The Martian Weakling’ (DC #294), and thereafter ‘The Martian Show-Off!’ to inexplicably deprive a fellow cop of his 1000th arrest! When that mystery is solved, he acts as ‘The Alien Bodyguard’ for Diane who is blithely unaware she has been marked for death…

Detective #297’s ‘J’onn J’onzz vs. the Vigilantes’ has the Green Guardian expose the secret agenda of a committee of wealthy “concerned citizens” before going to the aid of a stage performer who is ‘The Man Who Impersonated J’onn J’onzz!’ He then almost fails as a ‘Bodyguard for a Spy’ because Diane is jealous of the beautiful Princess in his charge…

Detective Comics #300 unveiled ‘The J’onn J’onzz Museum’ – a canny ploy by a master criminal who believes he has uncovered the Martian’s secret weakness, whilst ‘The Mystery of the Martian Marauders!’ has our hero battling impossible odds when an army of his fellows invaded Earth…

‘The Crime King of Mount Olympus’ matches the Manhunter against a pantheon of Hellenic super-criminals to save Diane’s life after which more plebeian thugs attempt to expose his secret identity in ‘The Great J’onn J’onzz Hunt!’ This first beguiling compendium then concludes with #304’s rousing tale of an academy of scientific lawbreakers as John Jones infiltrates ‘The Crime College!’…

Although certainly dated, these complex yet uncomplicated adventures are drenched in charm and still sparkle with innocent wit and wonder. Perhaps not to everyone’s taste nowadays, such vintage exploits of the Manhunter from Mars are still an all-ages buffet of fun, thrills and action no fan should miss.
© 1953, 1955-1962, 2007 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Showcase Presents Bat Lash


By Sergio Aragonés, Denny O’Neil, Len Wein, Nick Cardy, Mike Sekowsky, George Moliterni, Dan Spiegle & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2295-6 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

By 1968 the glory days of comic books as a cheap mass-market entertainment form were over. Spiralling costs, “free” alternatives like TV or radio and an increasing inability to connect with mainstream markets were leaving the industry to the mercy of dedicated fan-groups with specialised, even limited, interests and worse of all, becoming increasingly dependent on genre-trends to sustain sales.

Editorial Director and 30-year veteran Carmine Infantino looked for ways to bolster DC business (already suffering a concerted decline thanks to the seemingly unstoppable rise of Marvel Comics) and returned to old publisher’s maxim “do something old, and make it look new”. Although traditional cowboy yarns (which had dominated both large and small screens since the 1950s) were also in decline, fresh spins like The Wild, Wild West (1965-1969) and Italian Spaghetti Westerns were popular, and would be far easier and less problematic to transform into comics material than the burgeoning Supernatural themes which would soon come to dominate the next half-decade – but only once the repressive and self-inflicted Comics Code was re-written and publishers acknowledged that comics weren’t just for kids anymore…

Thus Spanish/Mexican cartoonist (and occasional actor) Sergio Aragonés Domenech was asked by Infantino and Editor Joe Orlando to add unique contemporary twists to a cowboy hero they had jointly concocted with the aid of legendary comics maestro Sheldon Mayer. Although many hands had already stirred the plot, irrepressible Aragonés – in collaboration with dialogue-provider Denny O’Neil – remade their world-weary, lonely saddle-tramp archetype into a something completely fresh and original… at least in comic book terms…

The result was a apparently amoral wanderer with an aesthete’s sensibilities, a pacifist’s expressed good intentions and the hair-trigger capabilities of a top gun-for-hire… all played for sardonic, tongue-in-cheek laughs…

Roguish, sexually promiscuous and always getting into trouble because his heart was bigger than his charlatan’s façade, Bat Lash caroused, cavorted and killed his way across the West – including Mexico – in one Showcase try-out and seven bi-monthly issues spanning October/ November 1968 through October/November 1969 before so-so sales and a terribly turbulent marketplace finally brought him low.

A lost masterpiece of the era and a splendid variation on traditional western fare, Bat Lash’s original exploits are criminally uncelebrated and – as far as I know – only available in this slim (a mere 240 pages) monochrome tome. It gathers all the ahead-of-their-times yarns plus later revivals from DC Special Series #16 plus the short run from the back of fellow cowboy antihero Jonah Hex.

The greatest strength of Bat Lash stories was that they took well-worn plots and added a sardonic spin and breakneck pace to keep them rapidly rattling along. It also didn’t hurt that the majority of the art was supplied by cruelly under-appreciated graphic genius Nick Cardy, whose light touch and unparalleled ability to draw beautiful women kept young male readers (those who bothered to try the comic) glued to the pages.

The drama begins with Showcase #76 (cover-dated August 1968 and on sale from 13th June) and eponymous introduction ‘Bat Lash’ by Aragonés, O’Neil and Cardy, in which flower-loving nomad Batton A. Lash wanders through the town of Welcome in search of a fancy feed, only to meet a gang of thugs and mystery poisoner in the process of driving out the entire populace. No “Suthun Gen’leman” (and isn’t that a term now loaded with all the wrong cultural connotations!?) – no matter how far he might have fallen – could evuh allow such a situation to proceed…

A little over two months later – leading me to conclude the Editorial Powers-That-Be were a mite overconfident with their western wonder – Bat Lash #1 hit the stands on August 20th, sporting a cover-date of October/November 1968/January 1969. It resumed and expanded the episodic, eccentric hi-jinks in ‘Bat Lash… We’re A-comin’ Ta Get You’, as the laconic Lothario narrowly escapes being lynched, only to stumble into the murder of a monk carrying part of a treasure map to Spanish gold. Is it his finer instincts seeking retribution for the holy man, the monk’s stunningly attractive niece or the glittering temptation of Spanish gold that prompts the rootin’ tootin’ action intervention that follows?

In #2 (released on October 29th 1968, cover-dated December 1968/December 1969 and plotted and limned by Cardy with Denny doing words) ‘Melinda’s Doll’ opens with a shotgun wedding, explores the impossible as the drifter becomes unwilling guardian to a little girl orphaned by gun-runners and brilliantly climaxes with shockingly unexpected poignancy and calamitous gunplay…

A radical departure – even for this offbeat series – occurs in ‘Samantha and the Judge’ (#3 by Aragonés, O’Neil & Cardy) when the easy-going Epicurean, whilst reluctantly trying out the temporary role of Deputy Sheriff, encounters a hanging judge who believes he is a Roman Emperor. Thankfully Bat has uncompromising lady deputy Samantha Eggert on his side, after which ‘Bat Lash in Mexico!’ (Aragonés, O’Neil & Cardy) sees our mild-mannered meanderer slope across the border and stumble straight into a revolutionary crisis in issue #4. Soon embroiled in an assassination plot, Lash needs all his wits and a big bunch of luck and guile in a tale as much gritty as witty wherein he truly displays hidden emotional depths to the rambling man…

Still in Mexico for #5, the impish creative team pit our dashing rogue against his near-equal in raffish charm and gunplay when he meets a deadly but charming bandito in ‘Wanted: Sergio Aragonés!’ Of course, they are both outmatched and overwhelmed by the delightfully deadly Senorita Maribel…

Mike Sekowsky pencilled most of issue #6 for Cardy to ink: a dark, tragic origin tale of ‘Revenge!’ revealing the anger and tears behind the laughter as Lash meets again swindler Preacher Ricketts and kills him for causing the death of his family. Only after being arrested for murder and subsequently on the run does Lash realise his sisters Bitsy and Melissa are still alive and sets out to find them…

Bat Lash #7 offers a final family foray as ‘Brothers’ (Aragonés, O’Neil & Cardy) sees our far-from-heroic protagonist on the trail of a younger sibling he had also believed dead for a decade. Sadly, Billy Lash is amnesiac and deeply traumatised by the actions of Preacher Ricketts and has become a ruthless bounty hunter. His current quarry is a total stranger and wanted man called Bat Lash…

And that’s where it was left until 1978 when giant sized anthology comic DC Special Series (#16) produced a Western-themed issue for which O’Neil and artist George Moliterni crafted a slick, sly murder-mystery set in San Francisco. Here an older if not wiser Batton Lash is getting by as a professional gambler until the idyllic life disappears, enveloped in a deadly war between Irish gangs and Chinese immigrant workers.

The compelling, enjoyable yarn eventually led to a 4-issue run as back-up in Jonah Hex #49-52 (June – September 1981) wherein our charming chancer wins a New Orleans bordello in a riverboat card game. Despite numerous attempts to eliminate him, Lash eventually takes full possession of the Bourbon Street Social Club. Is he that hungry for lazy luxury and female companionship, or is it perhaps that Bat knows a million dollars in Confederate gold was hidden there in the dying days of the Civil War and never found?

Scripter Len Wein and the incomparable Dan Spiegle continued and concluded this utterly under-appreciated character’s solo exploits in fine style; which only leaves it to you to hunt down this brash and bedazzling book or – if you are a truly passionate quality-fun-starved fan – bombard DC’s editors with (polite) requests and enquiries until they are convinced to give the foppishly reluctant gunslinger a comprehensive curated compilation he so deserves…

Enchanting, exciting, wry and wonderful, this is a book for all readers of fanciful fun fiction and a superb example of comics’ outreach potential.
© 1968, 1969, 1978, 2006 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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The Detective Chimp Casebook


By John Broome, Mike Tiefenbacher, Carmine Infantino, Irwin Hasen, Alex Kotzky, Gil Kane, Joe Giella, Sy Barry, Bernard Sachs & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-7795-2165-1 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced during less enlightened times.

Detective stories are a literary subgenre wherein an investigation by amateur or professional (active or retired) into a legal transgression or moral/social injustice plays out before the consumer, who may or may not include themselves in the process. Like exploration and adventuring, fantasy, horror and science fiction, Detective stories blossomed in white western societies during the mid-19th century: spreading from magazines and prose novels to later forms of entertainment media such as plays, films and radio shows, with early crime puzzle solvers including C. Auguste Dupin, Judge Dee/Di Gong An, Sherlock Holmes, Jules Maigret, Father Brown, Lord Peter Wimsey, Sexton Blake and Hercule Poirot. Tales targeting youngsters generated their own sleuthing stars: Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys and more, sparking a subgenre especially popular on television…

Comic strips developed detective stalwarts like Hawkshaw, Dick Tracy, Charlie Chan, Kerry Drake ad infinitum: all contributing to a tidal wave of fictive crimebusters that in many ways inspired true literary legends – Philip Marlow, Sam Spade, Simon Templar, Mike Hammer and so on. Where there is such variety and richness, strange yet rewarding things may blossom, none more rewarding than those seen in graphic narratives. Gathered here is the original, seminal comics lunacy in the hirsute form of Detective Chimp: a Florida-based do-gooder who – thanks to an extremely unconventional official lawman – became assistant sheriff of a major coastal metropolis.

In later years, wit and whimsey fell prey to the all-consuming fan-drive for rationality and reason (at least in comic book science terms) and both the police primate and his comic book host Rex the Wonder Dog were given origins rationalising and explaining their mighty mentalities. You can see the first hint of that at the end of this compilation which gathers the madcap monkeyshines of an ape answering to Bobo, as first seen in The Adventures of Rex The Wonder Dog #4 and thereafter #6-46, plus a canny codicil from  DC Comics Presents #35: spanning July 1952 to September/October 1959 and including a moment of animal magic from July 1981. Also in here is material from DC Special #1, Helmet of Fate: Detective Chimp #1, Tarzan #231, 234 & 235, Amazing World of DC Comics #1 and Who’s Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #6. And while we’re at it, let’s get one thing straight: I know and you know chimpanzees are APES. The author(s) did too, but to have more fun and engage euphony I – as they did – reserve the right to use many terms associated with both primates and prosimians throughout…

We now pause for me to pontificate some more…

Boasting a March 1937 cover-date, Detective Comics #1 was the third and final anthology title devised by luckless comics pioneer Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson. In 1935, the entrepreneur had seen the potential in Max Gaines’ new invention – the Comic Book – and reacted quickly, conceiving and releasing packages of all-new strips in New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine and follow-up New Fun/New Adventure (ultimately Adventure Comics) under the banner of National Allied Publications. These publications differed from similar prototype comics magazines which simply reprinted edited collations culled from established newspaper strips. However, these vanguard titles were as varied and undirected in content as any newspaper funnies page.

Detective Comics was different. Specialising solely in tales of crime and crimebusters, the initial roster included (amongst others) adventurer Speed Saunders, Cosmo, the Phantom of Disguise, Gumshoe Gus and two series by a couple of kids from Cleveland named Siegel & Shuster – espionage agent Bart Regan and two-fisted shamus Slam Bradley…

Within two years the commercially inept and unseasoned Wheeler-Nicholson had been forced out by his more savvy business partners, and his company eventually grew into monolithic DC (for Detective Comics) Comics. Surviving a myriad of changes and temporary shifts of identity and aims, it’s still with us – albeit primarily as a vehicle for the breakthrough character who debuted in the 27th issue…

In the years when superheroes were in retreat and considered a bit foolish, DC concentrated on genre stars. At the end of 1951 they launched Rex the Wonder Dog (#1 cover-dated January/February 1952), based equally on Rin Tin Tin, Lassie and their own miracle mutt Streak – the original Green Lantern’s dog who had ousted Alan Scott and Co. from his own title in the dying days of the Golden Age.

Rex solved crimes, saved lives in disasters, fought dinosaurs and saved the world, but that wasn’t enough and real-world legal restrictions dictated his title required other strips to qualify for favourable postal shipping rates. In #4 (July/August 1952), a future back-up feature was trialled. Written by John Broome, drawn by Carmine Infantino and inked by Sy Barry, the tale of a little chimp who helped solve the murder of his beloved owner captivated readers. Infantino always claimed this hirsute anthropoid crimebuster was his favourite character…

In The Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog #4 readers were invited to ‘Meet Detective Chimp!’ in a charming comedy thriller. It was the first outing of undeniably captivating comics lunacy revealing how, when Oscaloosa Florida’s Sheriff Chase snared the killer of prominent businessman and owner of Thorpe Animal Farm, it was only with the valiant and uncanny help of a certain young chimp. He consequently adopts and deputises the beast, with Bobo thereafter acting as assistant sheriff right up until the final issue. The hairy savant also enjoyed a revival at the end of the century and fresh fame in the 21st as new generations of creators and fans rediscovered him…

Response must have been overwhelming and immediate in 1952, because mere months later ‘The Return of Detective Chimp!’ came with #6 (cover-dated November/December – and remember, this was the company that took 3 years to give The Flash his own title…). Broome again scripted the hirsute Hawkshaw – as he would almost all (I’m presuming: records are sadly incomplete) – in a delightful succession of what we would call “Cosy Mysteries”. Infantino was inked by Joe Giella as the chimp – with the aid of an enraged nesting bird – solved a family murder, restored a sabotaged will and settled a family inheritance in a wild romp setting the pattern for years to come…

Illustrated by Alex (The Sandman, Plastic Man) Kotzky, #7 settled in for the long haul and exposed ‘Monkeyshines at the Wax Museum!’, with Bobo catching the killer of amiable murder-enthusiast Len Billings, after which Irwin (Green Lantern, Wildcat, Justice Society of America, Dondi) Hasen & Giella highlighted how ‘Death Walks the High Wire!’ as the savvy simian proved a circus trapeze accident was anything but, even deputising some four-legged performers to bring the assassin to justice…

For RtWD #9 (May/June 1953), Broome, Hasen & Bernard Sachs indulged a passion for sports as Bobo saved his favourite baseball star from kidnappers in ‘Crime Runs the Bases’ before uncovering ‘Monkey Business on the Briny Deep!’ (Broome, Hasen & Giella, July-August 1953). Here, Bobo became an inveterate but dilettante hobby fanatic, exploring a different fascination each episode which would miraculously impact on the current case. This time it was sea fishing that netted cunning thieves, whilst in #11 it was horses and jockeys, as the impressionable assistant solved ‘The Riddle of the Riverside Raceway!’ (Hasen & Giella): befriending a prize steed, stymying race-fixing gangsters and collaring the FBI’s Most Wanted fugitive…

Th chimp made and lost a new friend next with Hasen & Giella limning the saga of how ‘The Million Dollar Gorilla!’ was killed by a big game hunter’s jealous love-rival before Infantino (inked by Sy Barry) embraced Bobo’s new love of Westerns in #13’s ‘The Case of the Runaway Ostrich!’. This hobby afforded the hairy half-pint much opportunity to display his roping and riding skills when corralling a rare bird rustler…

In RtWD #14 (March/April 1954, with art by Hasen & Sachs) Bobo became a Flying Fool addicted to aircraft just in time to stumble over ‘Murder in the Blue Yonder!’ and catch the killer of his flight instructor, after which Infantino settled in for the long haul as his favourite character became a lifeguard and solved ‘The Case of the Fishy Alibi!’, wherein a gambler almost pulls off the perfect crime. For #16 Bobo’s new passion for scuba diving/ spearfishing exposes a millionaire’s murderer in ‘Monkey Sees, Monkey Does!’ Two months later Bobo cracked ‘The Case of the Suspicious Signature!’ (September/October 1954) when his new passion for autograph collecting accidentally lands him in a Hollywood star’s kidnapping…

When Chase starts paying his deputy in cash as well as room-&-board and bananas, Bobo goes ape over finance with ‘The Case of Bobo’s Bankbook!’ leaving him in the right place at the right time to foil a big heist, prior to succumbing to more basic fascination in #19’s ‘See No Evil, Hear No Evil!’ Bobo falls for visiting movie star Moka and takes up bodybuilding to impress her, but it proves no help at all when “The Most Famous Female Chimpanzee in the World” is kidnapped and he needs all his old skills to save the day…

With Sy Barry inking Infantino, ‘Detective Bobo… Chimp-Napped!’ sees the deputy abducted when his circus chums hit town again, just in time to thwart a jewel snatch, after which #21’s ‘The Secret of the ‘Indian’ Monkey!’ offers opportunity for dressing up when a historical pageant uncovers a treasure map and draws thieves like flies. In #22’s topical tale – inked by Giella – the chimp goes ape for sci fi stories yet still foils a cunning robbery scheme after ‘Bobo Rides a Flying Saucer!’ RtWD #23 saw Sheriff Chase’s only hobby – stamp collecting – key to solving ‘The Secret of the Spanish Castle!’ as a misdelivered letter inadvertently draws the lawgivers into a robbery/hostage situation, whilst Bobo’s temporary love of railways is the spur for ‘The Mystery of the Silver Bullet!’ when locomotive driver Mike Layton allows the chimp onto the footplate just as hijackers attack…

A dalliance with firefighting in #25 proves ‘Where There’s Smoke – There’s Trouble!’ as Bobo joins the Junior Forest Rangers just when a couple of thieves trying to hide their loot in the woods start throwing lighted cigarettes around, and #26 sees the simian Sherlock take up Egyptology in time to solve ‘The Mystery of the Missing Mummy!’ (Giella inks) and save Chase from being entombed forever…

After months of eating premium-promotion cereal, the eager ape at last opens the pack containing ‘A Whistle for Bobo!’ and subsequently drives everyone crazy as an impromptu traffic cop… until one car packed with brigands and boodle refuses to stop. Then a string of robberies by the Goliath Gang again sees him seeking to build up his physique by using ‘Bobo’s Amazing Jungle Gym!’ That turns into bad news for the bandits…

Broome & Infantino transformed Detective Chimp into ‘The Scientific Crook-Catcher!’ (#29 September/October 1956) when the savvy simian sneaks into a symposium of savants disguised as human professor and wowing the assembled savants by tracking down quick-change disguise artist Larry the Lynx, after which a duel with a jewel thief and rendezvous with a robbing raven presents ‘A Jailbird for Bobo!’…

The special deputy met his match in a gang of boy do-gooders in ‘Clue of the Secret Seven!’ but even collaboratively collaring a brace of escaped convicts was no preparation for tackling the maritime ‘Mystery of the Talking Fish!’ (#32) after returning to diving to hunt for sunken treasure. When Bobo’s friend Alice Rogers – inheritor of the animal farm in the first adventure – needs a favour, the detective is more than happy to be companion to her new albino Guereza monkey. However, when it vanishes, Bobo attempts to impersonate a creature he has never seen, whilst seeking to find ‘The Mystery Monkey from Zanzibar!’ leads to the capture of its opportunistic abductors instead…

Infantino tested a range of stylistic innovations on Detective Chimp and excels in #34’s ‘The Case of the Chimpanzee’s Camera!’ when Bobo takes up photography and snaps a trio of paranoid thieves casing their next caper, whilst ‘Bobo’s New York Adventure!’ sees the little ape in the Big Apple, pinch-hitting for a monkey TV star and stumbling into Oscaloosa’s Most Wanted: murderous jewel thief “Dangerous Jack” Diamond…

Giella inks in #36 as ‘The Mystery of the Missing Missile!’ sees Bobo and Secret Seven pal Tommy Wheeler stymie thieves and test a new invention before the chimp takes a vacation in human guise and unearths ‘The Treasure of Thunder Island!’ In #38 he catches canny counterfeiters whilst accidentally debunking the theories of a scientist who believes he can make animals talk in ‘The Amazing Experiment of Professor Snodgrass!’

For the next case ‘Bobo Goes to Sheriff’s School!’ as Chase sends the assistant in his place to a detection and criminology seminar. It disturbs the chimp’s latest passion of collecting marbles but the substitution works out okay as the chimp outshines all human attendees and even catches a couple of robbers along the way, after which ‘Bobo the Baby Sitter!’ recovers escaped circus star Kangy (the Boxing ’Roo) and nabs a brace of thieving fugitives prior to becoming ‘Bobo – Sleuth on Skis!’ when freak weather turns Oscaloosa into a snowcapped winter playground for thieves…

Giella inks a road rage riot in #42 as hot-rod fanatic Bobo drives a kiddie stock car for the Secret Seven in a big meet, becoming ‘Demon of the Speedways!’ after his new invention allows him to pip all rivals at the post. This attracts the unwanted attention of a gang boss in need of  super-fast getaway car, but does not end well for him…

Keen on being a model citizen, Bobo resolves to ‘Stop That Litterbug!’ in #43, accidentally intercepting a scrap of paper worth millions to the desperate men who lost it, before Giella’s last inking hurrah confirms ‘Where There’s Smoke – There’s Bobo!’ as the ape’s drive to be a fireman almost costs him his real job – until he encounters crooks at a fire – after which a logical outcome of Bobo’s career comes to pass in penultimate episode ‘The Case of the Monkey Witness!’ Here the anthropoid must testify against crime boss Legs Dunne, with the mobster’s gang seeking to end him before the trial begins…

Bobo’s last case came in #46 as he joins a Little League team and becomes ‘The Chimp-Champ of Baseball!’ (September/October 1959), all while preventing a pair of crooks escaping custody.

And that was that…

To make room for resurgent superheroes, The Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog folded with that issue and – other than an occasional reprint – Bobo vanished for years. The covers of most of those re-appearances are displayed at the back of this book and are listed there, but before that one last story falls under the aegis of this pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths collection.

DC Comics Presents had an occasional back-up series offering short tales of lost stars and in #35 (July 1981) Mike Tiefenbacher & Gil Kane (who had drawn the majority of exploits starring Bobo’s canine companion) revealed ‘Whatever Became of Rex the Wonder Dog?’ Here the canine marvel teamed with now-ancient and decrepit ape Bobo to solve one last mystery, inadvertently restoring themselves to youthful health and vitality for another round of action adventures…

The collection closes with gallery of images under the umbrella of ‘The Ape Files’ which include the 1969 cover to DC Special #1 (an “All-Infantino Issue”), those for Joe Kubert’s covers for Tarzan #231, 234, 235 (which carried Bobo reprints) and Amazing World of DC Comics #1: another Infantino mega montage. Brian Bolland’s preliminary pencil art for Helmet of Fate: Detective Chimp #1 is augmented by the finished full-colour piece before all the ape antics end with Infantino & Bill Wray’s page on Bobo from Who’s Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #6, a brief biography ‘About the Ape’ and similar treatment for creators Broome and Infantino.

In this century an ape solving crimes is less of a sure-fire winner – as many other hirsute DC gumshoes could attest – and Detective Chimp speaks many human tongues, consults with Batman and works with Shadowpact and for Justice League Dark: a far different beast operating on less charming levels. However, if you’re looking for daft laughs, sublime wit and astounding artwork, this is a book worth casing…
© 1952, 1952, 1952, 1952, 1952, 1952, 1952, 1952, 1968, 1974, 1975, 1981, 1985, 2007, 2023 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Showcase Presents Hawkman volume 2


By Gardner F. Fox & Murphy Anderson, Bob Haney, Dick Dillon, Arnold Drake, Raymond Marais, Robert Kanigher, Denny O’Neill, Johnny Craig, Chuck Cuidera, Gil Kane, Sid Greene, Joe Giella, Joe Kubert & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-1817-1 (TPB)

After fighting long and hard to win his own title it was such a pity that time and fashion seemed to conspire against the Winged Wonder…

Katar Hol and his wife Shayera Thal were police officers on their own highly advanced planet of Thanagar. They originally travelled to Earth from the star system Polaris in pursuit of a shape-changing spree-thief named Byth but stayed to study Earth police methods in the cultural metropolis of Midway City. This all occurred in the wonderful ‘Creature of a Thousand Shapes’ in The Brave and the Bold #34 (cover-dated February/March 1961), but the public was initially resistant and it was three years and many further issues, guest-shots and even a back-up feature in Mystery in Space before the Winged Warriors finally won their own title.

Cover-dated April/May 1964, Hawkman #1 signalled the beginning of a superb run of witty, thrilling, imaginative and hugely entertaining science fiction, crime-mystery and superhero adventures that captivated the devoted but still painfully small audience. All those wonderful stories can be found in Showcase Presents Hawkman volume 1, and hopefully one day in proper full-colour archival editions both paper and pixel forms.

Until then there’s this second, concluding Showcase volume, reprinting in crisp efficient monochrome Hawkman (volume 1) #12-27, Brave and the Bold (volume 1) #70, The Atom (volume 1) #31 and avian portions of last-ditch combination-comic The Atom and Hawkman #39-45, spanning cover-dates February/March 1966 to November 1969.

All-out action and sci fi thrills and spills recommence with a large-scale cosmic epic that originally debuted in Hawkman #12. ‘The Million-Year-Long War!’ is pure Gardner Fox bravura storytelling, recounting how a Thanagarian exploration team awakens two aliens determined to kill each other even after eons of suspended animation. That reawakened enmity drove them both to possess all Thanagar, turning Hawkman’s homeworld into one huge weapon. As usual Fox’s imaginings are gloriously illustrated by Murphy Anderson (Superman, Atomic Knights, The Spectre, Captain Comet, Adam Strange, Korak, Son of Tarzan, John Carter of Mars, Buck Rogers) – as they would be until Julie Schwartz surrendered editorial control with issue #22.

Hawkman #13 offered startling time-bending saga ‘Quest of the Immortal Queen!’ wherein a Valkyrie from Earth’s far future opted to add the Winged Wonder to her seraglio of lusty warriors plucked from history. Happily, wife Shayera strenuously objects and is both smart and tough enough to sort things out. Fox’s treatment of female characters was highly unique for those pre-feminist times: all his heroines – a large number of them wives, not wishy-washy “girlfriends” – were capable, intelligent and most importantly, wholly independent and autonomous individuals.

Hawkgirl was written as every bit her husband’s equal. The Hawks had one of the most subtle and sophisticated relationships in the business. Like Sue and Ralph Dibney (Elongated Man & wife) Katar and Shayera were full partners (both couples clearly influenced by Nick and Nora Charles in The Thin Man movies) and the interplay between them was always rich in humour and warmth.

As a sign of the times, super-secret criminal conspirators C.A.W. (Criminal Alliance of the World) returned to seize control of the ‘Treasure of the Talking Head!’ This ancient computer was built before the birth of Christ and held all the world’s knowledge, and was a hard-won prize prior to the Pinioned Paladins facing a fantastic monster in ‘Scourge of the Human Race!’: an encounter revealing the true history of humanity when the last surviving specimen of Homo Sapiens’ earliest rival for mastery of the planet attempts to reverse evolution…

Hawkman #16’s ‘Lord of the Flying Gorillas!’ was a dimension-hopping sequel to issue #6 (‘World Where Evolution Ran Wild’): an incredible Lost Worlds romp combining secret history, fantastic fantasy and DC’s fabled fascination with apes and simians of every sort, whilst #17’s ‘Ruse of the Robbing Raven’ changed pace with a clever costumed crook caper. The issue also contained the first short back-up tale in over a year – another science-based whodunnit entitled ‘Enigma of the Escape-Happy Jewel Thieves!’

Hawkman then guest-starred – and clashed – with Batman in The Brave and the Bold #70 (February/March 1967). ‘Cancelled: 2 Super-Heroes’ was by Bob Haney, EC legend Johnny Craig & Charles “Chuck” Cuidera depicting the usually comradely crimebusters at each other’s throats due to the machinations of a manic millionaire who collected secret identities. Later that month in his own title the Winged Wonder teamed with Adam Strange against malevolent Manhawks to locate the ‘World That Vanished!’ The planet in question was Thanagar and when it went, it took beloved Shayera with it…

This colossal tale concluded in the next issue with the action-packed ‘Parasite Planet Peril!’ after which the Avian Ace joined his old ally in The Atom #31 for ‘Good Man, Bad Man, Turnabout Thief!’ (Fox, Gil Kane & Sid Greene) to battle a phantom super-criminal hidden within the brain of an innocent man. Katar Hol returned to home ground for Hawkman #20’s ‘Death of the Living Flame’: a classy anthropological tomb-raiding yarn and the introduction of a new and persistent foe in ‘Lion-Mane… the Tabu Menace!’

The alien-infected leonine marauder was back in the very next issue but ‘Attack of the Jungle Juggernaut!’– a typically classy thriller for Fox &Anderson – was their swan song. Admin trading saw them bowing out as Julius Schwartz moved to more important titles and – with #22 – George Kashdan took over Hawkman’s editorial reins. He tapped his go-to guys Haney, Dick Dillin & Cuidera to continue the adventures of the Winged Wonders in a market increasingly indifferent to costumed characters.

‘Quoth the Falcon… Hawkman Die!…’ certainly hit the ground running in a tale of extraterrestrial-induced paranoia and civil unrest, resulting in Hawkman revealing his secret identity and alien heritage to an increasingly hostile and intolerant Earth…

In #23 ‘The Hawkman from 1,000,000 B.C.!’ delivered another dark, moody tale wherein a mad scientist’s time-plundering ray inflicts dinosaurs, ancient warriors and an amnesiac Hawkman on the shell-shocked citizens of Midway City. Arnold Drake scripted alien invasion epic ‘The Robot-Raiders from Planet Midnight!’ and Haney resurfaced for ‘Return of the Death Goddess!’ offering Shayera Thal’s brief but ghastly possession by the ghost of the mythical Medusa…

The writing was on the wall by June-July 1968 and the prophetically entitled ‘Last Stand on Thanagar!’(#26  scripted by Raymond Marais), was a rushed inconsequential affair preceding final tale ‘…When the Snow-Fiend Strikes!’ which ended Hawkman’s solo career with a muddled tale of Communist agents and Yetis in the Himalayas.

The close of the 1960s were bad times for superheroes. Buying tastes had changed and a drop in comic sales and attendant rise of interest in supernatural themes prompted publishers to drop or amend much of the anti-horror provisions of the Comics Code Authority. Tales of mystery and imagination were returning after nearly a decade-and-a-half, but sales figures notwithstanding, Julie Schwartz had worked too hard to just let Hawkman die. Just as Marvel were converting their double-feature “split books” into solo titles, the Avian Ace was crammed into the equally-struggling Atom comic title for one last year of trying. Beginning with #39 (October/November 1968 and carrying on the numbering of the Tiny Titan’s title) The Atom and Hawkman featured some of Schwartz’s biggest creative guns, alternating short solo stories with shared adventures. The first of these was ‘Vengeance of the Silver Vulture!’: an epic clash against resurgent Mayan death-cultists written by Bob Kanigher, illustrated by Anderson & Joe Giella with cover art by Joe Kubert – who would also contribute interior art to the feature he struggled so long and hard to create.

Written by Fox, pencilled by Kubert and inked by Anderson, the Hawkman portion of #40 – ‘Man with the Inbuilt Panic Button!’ and its sequel ‘Yo-Yo Hangup in the Sky!’ from #41 – are one last splendid slice of the “Good Old Days”: an intriguing mystery about an ordinary man who suddenly develops the power of teleportation – but only from one life-threatening crisis to a greater one…

Denny O’Neil joined Dick Dillin & Sid Greene for ‘When the Gods Make Madness!’, a full-length team-up pitting heroes against Hindu gods, before Kanigher revived the Golden Age Hawkman’s greatest foe The Gentleman Ghost in 2-part saga ‘Come to my Hanging!’ and concluding clash ‘The Ghost Laughs Last’, both limned by Anderson.

The Atom and Hawkman #45 was the FINAL final issue: a revelatory psycho-drama by O’Neil, Dillin & Greene starring both heroes. It wrapped up their comic tenure and set them up with a prolonged series of further adventures to be seen in Justice League of America (a veritable lifeboat for cancelled costumed crime-fighters at that time) and later 1970s’ series like Secret Society of Super-Villains and Super Team Family.

‘Queen Jean, Why Must We Die?’ revealed the Atom’s fiancée Jean Loring was descended from aliens who had crashed on Earth in the Stone Age. Returned from sub-molecular exile, the modern-day survivors of the accident drove her insane because their hereditary rulers must be free of all care. The heroes rescue but not cure her, and this tale would provide the basis for Loring’s actions in later sagas Identity Crisis and Countdown to Final Crisis. Apart from the JLA, occasional guest-spots and back-up features in Action and Detective Comics that was it for the Winged Wonders until changing tastes and times gave them another, indeed many other, shots at the stars.

Hawkman briefly grew into one of the most iconic characters of the second superhero boom, not just for the superb art but also because of brilliant, subtle writing and incomparable imagination. These tales are comfortably familiar but grippingly timeless. Yet comics are a funny business; circumstances, tastes and fashions often mean that wonderful works are missed and unappreciated.

Don’t make the same mistake readers did in the 1960s. Together with its first volume this book captures and perfectly preserves the very essence of the Silver Age of Superheroes. Whatever your own vintage, read these astounding adventures and become a fan. It’s never too late.
© 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 2008 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.